VIDEO - Entrepreneur by chance: Byju Raveendran
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Capturing his story from being a small-town boy to a billionaire, Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO, of edtech firm Byju’s told Fortune India that he ended by becoming an engineer because he was “good at math” and that it was the “default option” for a south Indian child. “An engineer by chance, a teacher by choice for sure, which made me an entrepreneur by chance,” Raveendran says, in an exclusive interview.
“I’m sure [if] you meet me 10 years down the line, hopefully I will be even more aspirational and ambitious,” adds Raveendran, whose company is valued at close to $17 billion. According to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020, Raveendran is the fifth-richest tech billionaire in India, after Shiv Nadar, Azim Premji, Sunil Mittal, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
August 2025
As India continues to be the world’s fastest-growing major economy, Fortune India presents its special issue on the nation’s Top 100 Billionaires. Curated in partnership with Waterfield Advisors, this year’s list reflects a slight decline in the number of dollar billionaires—from 185 to 182—even as the entry threshold for the Top 100 rose to ₹24,283 crore, up from ₹22,739 crore last year. From stalwarts like Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, and the Mistry family, who continue to lead the list, to major gainers such as Sunil Mittal and Kumar Mangalam Birla, the issue goes beyond the numbers to explore the resilience, ambition, and strategic foresight that define India’s wealth creators. Read their compelling stories in the latest issue of Fortune India. On stands now.
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