Meet Neerja Sethi, DU alumna with net worth Rs 8,200 crore, founded a billion-dollar company from her flat

Neerja Sethi is one of the most successful billionaire businesswomen. She started her business journey with her husband with just $2,000 investment. In 1980, the 68-year-old co-founded the IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel.

She has been on Forbes' America’s richest self-made women list several times. In 2022, she was on 24th rank. Neerja Sethi co-founded Syntel with her husband Bharat Desai in their apartment in Troy, Michigan (US). She had been the director of Syntel since April 1980. While her husband was the chairman of the firm. 

However, years later in October 2018, French IT firm Atos SE bought Syntel for USD 3.4 billion. But Neerja did not join Atos after the acquisition. Neerja got an estimated USD 510 million for her stake, as a result of this acquisition.

Who is Neerja Sethi? She is a businesswoman who began her career as an entrepreneur when she co-founded Syntel. She was born in India in 1955 but lives in Fisher Island, Florida, US. Sethi has an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Delhi University, and a master’s degree in computer science from Oakland University. She also holds an MBA in operations research from Delhi University.

She is to married to Bharat Desai, who is also a billionaire businessman. They have two children. According to Forbes, Neerja Sethi has a total net worth of USD 1 billion as of 2022. Her source of wealth includes IT consulting, outsourcing, self made etc.

In 2021, Neerja Sethi was among the five Indian-American women who were featured in the Forbes list of ‘America’s Richest Self-Made Women.’ In 2015, she was ranked 14 on the inaugural Forbes list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women.

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