India’s 100 Richest
N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY: WAR OF WORDS
The retired chairman and cofounder of software bellwether Infosys
was in the eye of a storm after the sudden resignation in August of
the company’s CEO, Vishal Sikka, a former SAP executive Murthy
appointed in 2014. In a startling turn, the Infosys board blamed Murthy
for the CEO’s premature departure. Murthy said he was anguished by
the allegations and would reply to them at an appropriate time. In
recent months, Murthy’s concerns over alleged corporate-governance
lapses at Infosys, which the company has denied, escalated into a
war of words. This resulted in a board shakeup, which saw the return
of retired cofounder Nandan Nilekani (No. 89) as the company’s
nonexecutive chairman. Murthy recently said that one of his biggest
regrets was stepping down from Infosys.RANA KAPOOR: POSITIVE BANKER
The former Bank of America executive is now India’s second-richest
self-made banker after Uday Kotak (No. 11) by virtue of his 11% stake
in Yes Bank. Kapoor cofounded finance firm Rabo India Finance in
a joint venture with the Netherland’s Rabobank in 1998 but sold his
stake 5 years later. Along with 2 partners he snatched what was a rare
banking license to set up Yes Bank in 2004. Today it is India’s fifth-
largest bank in the private sector with assets of $34 billion. The bank
and its board have been embroiled in a legal battle with the family of
Kapoor’s late partner, Ashok Kapur, who died in the terror attacks in
Mumbai in 2008.