Razorpay’s fintech revolution: How Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur became India’s youngest billionaires

India’s fintech boom has crowned two new billionaires—Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, co-founders of Razorpay. At just 34, each has amassed a fortune of ₹8,643 crore, securing their place in the Hurun Global Rich List 2025. Their meteoric rise, as per Hurun, underscores not only personal success but also the accelerating growth of India's digital payments ecosystem.

From IIT Roorkee to Fintech Titans

Kumar and Mathur’s journey began in the classrooms of IIT Roorkee, where their shared passion for technology laid the foundation for what would become one of India’s most influential fintech ventures. While Kumar honed his skills as a software engineer at Microsoft, Mathur gained industry experience as a wireline field engineer at Schlumberger. Yet, it was their frustration with India’s cumbersome online payment systems that set them on a different path. As Mathur once remarked on LinkedIn, "We started Razorpay after discovering the dismal state of online payments in India."

Disrupting India’s Digital Payment Landscape

Launched in 2014, Razorpay was ne of the fintech players, later on becoming a unicorn, to revolutionise online transactions, simplifying payment processing for businesses across the country. The startup quickly gained traction, attracting major investors such as GIC, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global Management, Matrix Partners India, and Y Combinator. By the close of 2021, Razorpay had secured $375 million in a Series F funding round, catapulting its valuation to $7.5 billion.

India’s Billionaire Landscape: A Shifting Tide

India’s billionaire count has fluctuated in recent years, reflecting broader economic trends. According to Hurun, after peaking at 249 in 2022, the number dipped to 187 in 2023 due to market volatility. However, the momentum rebounded in 2024, with the figure surging to 271, followed by another leap to 284 in 2025.

"The collective wealth of Indian billionaires has surpassed the trillion-dollar milestone, signalling a new era of prosperity. Notably, 62% of these billionaires have experienced increased wealth, underscoring the positive economic trends sweeping the nation," Hurun India’s founder and chief researcher, Anas Rahman Junaid, observed.

The Young and the Wealthy

While Kumar and Mathur hold the distinction of being India’s youngest billionaires, they are not alone on the global stage. China's Wang Zelong, also 29, shares the same net worth of ₹8,643 crore. The average age of billionaires in India remains 68, slightly above the global average of 66, highlighting the relatively late-stage wealth accumulation trend worldwide.