Kris Gopalakrishnan: The Infosys Co-founder Richer Than Narayana Murthy

He serves on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murthy secured the fifth spot on Bengaluru’s richest families list, according to the recently released Hurun India Rich List 2024.

When we think of Infosys, the first name that comes to mind is Narayana Murthy. But did you know that the IT firm was co-founded by Mr Murthy and six others? According to the recently released Hurun India Rich List 2024, Narayana Murthy is not the richest Infosys co-founder.

As per the list, while Narayana and Sudha Murty secured the fifth spot on the list of Bengaluru’s wealthiest families, with a net worth of Rs 36,600 crores, it was his co-founder Senapathy ‘Kris’ Gopalkrishna who surpassed him with a fortune of Rs 38,500 crore. 

Mr Gopalkrishna served as the CEO and Managing Director of the IT giant from 2007 to 2011. He even served as the Vice Chairman of the company from 2011 to 2014. He retired from the company in 2014 and since his retirement, he has invested in a slew of startups, such as Ki Mobility, a provider of automobile services, both through his business incubator Axilor Ventures and some venture funds.

Now, the 69-year-old is the Chairman of Axilor Ventures, a startup accelerator that has invested in several companies including GoodHome, Kaagaz and EnKash.

Mr Gopalkrishna has a master’s degree in physics and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. 

In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Mr Gopalkrishna the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian honour.

He’s funded the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Research Center, named after his wife, at IIT Madras.

He serves on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT, Bangalore, and is also on the Board of Trustees of the Chennai Mathematical Institute, as per the Infosys website. 

Meanwhile, Infosys, established in July 1981 in Pune but presently based in Bengaluru, was co-founded by seven engineers, including Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh, NS Raghavan, and Ashok Arora.