Meet Mrs Sunak: Everything you need to know about billionaire ‘first lady’ Akshata Murthy

24 October 2022, 16:34 | Updated: 24 October 2022, 17:56

Rishi Sunak has claimed victory in the Conservative Party leadership contest – but what do we know of the new Prime Minister's wife?

Stepping into the role after fellow Tory hopeful Penny Mordaunt failed to reach the 100 vote threshold required to progress, 42-year-old Sunak has become the UK’s first asian prime minister- and the youngest in 200 years.

And with the role, comes the new 'First Lady' of 10 Downing Street, Rishi's wife, Akshata Murthy.

Akshata, 42, a fashion designer, married Sunak in Bengaluru, India, in 2009 and will be taking up residence on the famous street with their two daughters Krishna and Anoushka.

So who is Akshata? No stranger to a headline herself, Murthy hit headlines earlier this year when it was revealed she had retained her non-domicile status and managed to avoid hefty tax bills on a personal business.

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Reportedly worth £200million, her ‘non-dom’ tax status meant she wasn’t required to pay UK taxes on income earned elsewhere.

It meant Murthy was able to dodge tax on around £11.5m in annual dividends from her stake in her father’s company, paying £30,000 to retain the status.

Her father is Indian billionaire N.R. Narayana Murthy – founder of tech firm Infosys and reportedly worth $4.5 billion. Murthy’s daughter currently holds a 1 percent stake in the firm, with the holding believed to be worth nearly £700m.

The family are also involved in a joint venture with Amazon in India, estimated to be worth £900m.

Studying economics and French at Claremont McKenna College in California, Murthy went on to study Fashion Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, before going on to gain an MBA from Stanford.

It was there that she met Sunak, who was studying in the US on a prestigious Fulbright scholarship. The coupe married four years later.

Founding her own company Akshata Designs, in 2007, the venture folded soon after. Later going on to found London-based Catamaran Ventures UK with Mr Sunak, the now-PM transferred his shares to her before he became an MP back in 2015.

A businesswoman with her fingers in multiple pies, Ms Murty also owns one UK-based venture capital company and is a director or direct shareholder in at least five other UK companies – one of which is Jamie Oliver’s pizza restaurants.

Moving into number 10 with their children whilst Rishi was Chancellor, the pair will now return to number 11 – in recent years, the preferred home of the Prime Minister due to it being a larger flat than number 10.

The family have multiple properties – a five-bedroom townhouse in London, a manor house in North Yorkshire, a property in Santa Monica, California, and another central London flat.

Invites to the family’s parties have also become sought-after events – it’s reported guests have regularly been treated to feasts of roast venison, canapés and champagne.

With the couple stepping onto the Sunday Times rich list for the first time in May 2022 with a combined fortune of £730m, Sunak has become the first ever politician to appear on the list since its inception in 1989.