SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Symphony Technology founder Romesh Wadhwani is the richest Indian America, with a net worth of $3 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
In total, five Indian-Americans are among the country’s 400 richest people, topped by Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates for the 23rd year in a row.
Along with Wadhwani, co-founders of outsourcing firm Syntel Bharat and Neerja Desai, airline veteran Rakesh Gangwal, entrepreneur John Kapoor and Silicon Valley angel investor Kavitark Ram Shriram have featured in Forbes’ ‘The Richest People In America 2016’ list. The list has been topped by 60-year-old Gates who has a net worth of $81 billion.
Wadhwani, 69, has been ranked 222nd on the list with a net worth of $3 billion.
The IIT-Mumbai and Carnegie Mellon alumnus is the chairman and CEO of Symphony Technology Group, an empire of 17 data, technology, healthcare and analytics companies that together take in more than $2.8 billion in annual revenue, Forbes said.
Last year, Wadhwani pledged to commit up to $1 billion to fund entrepreneurship initiatives in India.
The Desai brothers’ rank 274th on the list with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Syntel, which grew from its humble garage in Michigan roots now generates over $950 million in revenue and has nearly 24,000 employees across the globe, Forbes said. Gangwal is ranked 321 on the list with a net worth of $2.2 billion.
Kapoor ranks 335 on the list with a net worth of $2.1 billion. The 73-year old is the chairman of two drug outfits – Akorn, which specializes in “difficult-to-manufacture” prescription drugs and Insys Therapeutics, which produces an opioid for cancer patients.
Shriram ranks 361 on the list with a net worth of $1.9 billion. An early Google backer, Shriram, 59, has sold of most of his stock but remains on the board of its parent company, Alphabet, Forbes said. Since 2000, he has been investing in young technology startups through his firm, Sherpalo Ventures.
