Last Updated: March 18, 2024, 15:39 IST
Infosys founder Narayana Murthy has given shares valued at over Rs 240 crore to his four-month-old grandson, Ekagrah Rohan Murty, potentially making him India’s youngest millionaire, according to a filing by the company on the exchanges.
The exchange filing revealed that Ekagrah now owns 1,500,000 shares, equivalent to a 0.04 per cent stake, in India’s second-largest information technology services company.
Post this acquisition, Murthy’s share in Infosys reduced to 0.36 per cent from 0.40 per cent, or over 1.51 crore shares. The mode of transaction was “off-market.”
Sudha Murty, who was recently sworn in as a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, holds a 0.83 per cent stake in Infosys, valued at approximately Rs 5,600 crore at current market prices. She previously shared how she provided Narayana Murthy with Rs 10,000 as seed capital to establish Infosys, choosing to retain only Rs 250 from her own savings due to perceived risk stemming from his prior business endeavours.
In November, Murthy and author-philanthropist Sudha Murty became grandparents after their son Rohan Murty and wife Aparna Krishnan welcomed a baby boy. The newborn is the third grandchild of the Murthys, who are grandparents to the two daughters of Akshata Murty.
The baby was named Ekagrah, a Sanskrit word that means unwavering focus and determination. The family was reportedly inspired by Arjuna’s “ekagrah” in the Mahabharata.
Narayana Murthy founded Infosys in 1981. The company was listed on Nasdaq in March 1999 and in a statement released at the time, Narayana Murthy had said that the Nasdaq listing would help the company attract the best available talent.
Recently, Narayana Murthy shared this as his proudest moment was, “When I sat in front of those scorching lights on a high stool in Nasdaq when we became the first Indian company to be listed on Nasdaq. I think that was, in some sense, we were doing something that had not be done at all by an Indian company.”