Industrialist and philanthropist Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Technologies, is celebrating his 78th birthday today, on July 14. Shiv Nadar is credited with being one of the pioneers of the computing and IT industry in India. On this birthday, know his net worth, education, and how a business he co-started in a Delhi Barsati became one of India's biggest IT companies
Shiv Nadar, the Chairman Emeritus & Strategic Advisor to the Board of HCLTech, a $12.8 billion global organization, is one of the richest Indians with a net worth of $25.9 billion (around Rs 2.12 lakh crore) as on July 14, 2023, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index
After completing his engineering from PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, Shiv Nadar started his career as part of the elite DCM management trainee system. According to Forbes, Nadar's education was primarily in the south Indian language of Tamil, and he didn't start speaking much English until age 22
Shiv Nadar began his career at the Walchand group's Cooper Engineering in 1967 in Pune. He then moved to a job at Delhi Cloth Mills’ digital products division In 1975, he started his own venture called MicroComp Limited, along with his friends and colleagues. There were 8 partners including Nadar, who was the largest shareholder of the company. The company initially focused on selling tele-digital calculators
Shiv Nadar later started HCL in a Delhi Barsati “akin to a garage startup” with a compelling vision that the microprocessor would change the world. In 1976, Nadar saw an opportunity in the computer market of India as IBM was leaving the country, and he co-founded Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) now HCL Tech with an initial investment of Rs 18,700. The Uttar Pradesh government supported his vision with an additional grant of Rs 20 lakh in exchange for a 26% stake in the company making HCL the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
Shiv Nadar credits his success to the education and scholarships that he received during his early years. He has always maintained that access to quality education is the most potent tool of transformation and therefore, in 1994, he established the philanthropic - Shiv Nadar Foundation. The Foundation draws heavily on Nadar’s experience of building an organization like HCL
Under Shiv Nadar's leadership, HCL scaled new heights, becoming one of the largest IT companies in India. Shiv Nadar gave up his role as the chairman of HCL Technologies in 2020, He is now the chairman emeritus and strategic advisor
Shiv Nadar is married to Kiran, an Asian Games medalist and internationally renowned bridge player. She is also one of the largest Indian Art collectors in the world. His wife has two private art museums in Delhi that showcase her vast collection. Shiv Nadar's only daughter Roshni Nadar is now chairwoman of HCL, the first female chair of a listed Indian IT company. Nadar has two grandsons
HCL Technologies shares were trading 2.5% higher at Rs 1,136 on NSE today. So far this year, the stock has rallied nearly 10%, outperforming Nifty50. In the last five years, HCL Tech shares have jumped more than 100%, delivering multibagger returns to long-term investors