This 80-year-old led IT giant for 15 years, then built his own empire including Rs 13,000 crore firm, net worth is...

Ashok Soota is counted among the pioneers of the Indian IT Industry. At 80, he is still going strong and is totally immersed in building new companies. Soota was the face of Azim Premji-led IT giant Wipro for 15 years.

The IIT alumnus then went on to found multiple companies, leading two of those to highly successful IPOs. Soota now has his eyes set on another IPO plan with a new venture he started at 79.

Soota studied engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee. He is also an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management. Soota was roped in by fellow billionaire Azim Premji in 1985 to build Wipro into a leading IT services company.

He led Wipro Infotech as President for 15 years before stepping down in 1999 to begin his first venture. Mindtree was founded by Soota and 9 other veteran IT professionals including Subroto Bagchi and Krishnakumar Natarajan. He led the company to a successful IPO in 2006.

Soota parted ways with Mindtree in 2011 to set up his next venture with Happiest Minds Technologies. He once again struck gold by taking the company to an IPO with overwhelming response in 2020.

Soota then forayed into healthcare in 2021 with SKAN, a medical research trust. In 2022, he set up his fourth venture with Happiest Health. Soota aims for his third successful IPO in a 5-year-plan.

Soota is also a philanthropist who has donated Rs 600 crore for medical research. His net worth stood at around Rs 9,000 crore ($1.1 billion), as per Forbes Rich List 2022.