Such is Rishi Sunak’s wife Aksaha

Akshata Murty is Britain’s first Asian prime minister’s spouse. NEIL HALL

The value of the British first lady’s assets is estimated at almost 600 million euros.

Britain’s new “first lady”, Rishi Sun too wife Akshata Murtyis in many ways special in its position.

Not only has Britain now got its first pair of prime ministers of Asian background, Murty also has a completely exceptional fortune as the prime minister’s spouse. Dubbed as the daughter of the “Indian Bill Gates”, Murty’s fortune has been estimated at up to 500 million pounds, i.e. almost 600 million euros.

For comparison, for example, the British king Charles III‘s assets are reported to be approximately EUR 360 million.

The prime minister couple who are now moving to Downing Street are known to own at least four homes. Some of the apartments are in Great Britain and some in California, USA. However, they have named a £7 million townhouse in London’s Kensington as their number one home.

While part of Murty’s wealth consists of this father’s, of Narayana Murthy of shares in the technology company she founded, she is also known as the founder and director of several companies, both alone and together with her husband.

However, Murty has named fashion design as his real passion.

Of modest conditions

Murty was born in India, in the city of Hubli. Despite his impressive wealth, Murty has said that he comes from quite modest circumstances. The millionaire father Murthy has said, among other things, that he once heard about the birth of his daughter from a colleague, because the family could not afford a phone at the time.

However, Murty’s parents were already very work-oriented, and Akshata spent a large part of her childhood under the care of her grandparents. The family’s financial situation in Murty’s youth was already completely different.

He began his studies at Claremont McKenna College in California, where he studied economics and French. Since then, however, he moved fully into fashion, and studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.

At the beginning of his career, Murty also had time to work for the consulting company Deloitte before moving on to study at Stanford University, where he met his future husband, Rishi Sunak.

Akshata’s father Murthy has later admitted that he experienced “jealousy” after his daughter told him that she had found her life partner.

– But when I met Rishi and found him to be everything he was described to be – smart, handsome and most importantly, honest – I understood why my daughter’s heart had been stolen, Narayana Murthy said later in an interview.

Sunak and Murty got married in August 2009 in Bangalore, India. The couple has two children, Krishna and Anoushka, who have stayed out of the public eye so far.

Fashion as a passion

After graduating from Stanford, Murty first worked in San Francisco in technology and marketing.

However, the young woman’s true passion was still in the clothing industry, and she soon moved on to work on her own fashion brand, Akshata Designs.

In the beginning, Murty’s clothing brand gained fame. In 2011, Indian Vogue, among others, described it as a style where “local craftsmanship meets contemporary Western silhouettes”. In an interview with Muotilehti, Murty said that it was his real passion work, which, among others, his engineer mother was very surprised.

– I couldn’t imagine doing anything other than this company’s business, Murty described his relationship with his own clothing brand at the time.

Despite his statement, Murty returned to company management within a few years. Today, he is especially known as the director of the capital and capital investment company Catamaran Ventures.

In addition, Murty also holds management positions in the men’s accessories store New & Lingwood and the gym chain Digme Fitness.

Tax shock

Before her husband took over the leadership of the country, Murty last made headlines in April 2022. At that time, it was revealed that his international businesses had led Murty to pay insufficient amounts of tax to Britain for up to 15 years.

While Sunak has full British citizenship, Murty’s citizenship is still Indian, and a large part of his business activities are registered around the world.

– To be clear, I have paid tax to this country on my UK income and international tax on my international income, Murty assured on Twitter around the time of April.

– This arrangement is completely legal and common for people who do not have one place of residence, he added.

At one time, however, Sunak was working as the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the name of correctness, Murty soon announced that he would also pay tax to the United Kingdom on all his worldwide income.

Sources: New Delhi Television, The Economic Times, The Guardian, CNN