Meet Karthik Sarma, IIT alumnus with net worth Rs 23,000 crore, hit the jackpot with one stock market bet

Quiet and reclusive Karthik Sharma is just 48 years old. He lives simply and is not flamboyant despite being one of the youngest self-made billionaires. He commands a net worth of over Rs 23,000 crore ($2.9 billion). Having started out his company a decade and half ago, Karthik made $2 billion from one big bet back in 2021.

Who is Karthik Sarma?

An Indian Institute of Technology, Madras alumnus, Karthik Sharma is today one of the top hedge fund managers in the world. His company SRS investment handles a portfolio worth around $10 billion (over Rs 81,000) crore today. Born and brought up in India, Karthik left for the US after completing his engineering from IIT to do his masters.

After earning a Master of Science degree from Princeton University, Karthik joined the leading consulting firm McKinsey & Company in 1998. After working as a consultant for three years in New York, he joined Tiger Global Management where he became the Managing Director. When he joined the company, Karthik was reportedly dubbed as its “most non-talented partner”. It is safe to say that he has more than answered his critics in the long run.

Karthik started SRS in 2006, naming it after his father’s initials. During the years of effort, the company made a bet in a car rental company’s stock around 2010. 11 years later, the investment resulted in blockbuster returns as the Avis stock grew by 456 percent. With SRS owning over 50 percent of Avis, the surge in the share price catapulted Karthik’s wealth as well as reputation as a top hedge fund manager. The New York-based Indian immigrant entered the billionaires club in 2022.