Three Indian-origin women among America's richest self-made women: Forbes
New York, Jun 7: Three Indian-origin women have been named by Forbes among America's 80 richest self-made women, the "ceiling crashers" and "overachievers" blazing their own trails as they create new businesses and amass fortunes.
President and CEO of computer networking firm Arista Networks Jayshree Ullal, cofounder of IT consulting and outsourcing firm Syntel Neerja Sethi and CTO and cofounder of streaming data technology company Confluent Neha Narkhede are in the Forbes list of 'America's Richest Self-Made Women 2019'.
The list has been topped by Diane Hendricks, who chairs ABC Supply, one of the largest wholesale distributors of roofing, siding and windows in America. The 72-year old has a net worth of USD 7 billion.
Ullal, who has been ranked 18th in the list, has a net worth of USD 1.4 billion. The 58-year old owns about 5 per cent of Arista's stock.
"Born in London and raised in India, she is now one of America's wealthiest female executives," Forbes said.
Sethi, ranked 23rd, cofounded Syntel with her husband Bharat Desai in 1980 in their apartment in Troy, Michigan with an initial investment of just USD 2,000.
Her current net worth is one billion dollars. French IT firm Atos SE bought Syntel for USD 3.4 billion in October 2018 and Sethi, 64, got an estimated USD 510 million for her stake.
Narkhede is ranked 60th on the list with a networth of USD 360 million. Confluent, which is currently valued at USD 2.5 billion, counts Goldman Sachs, Netflix and Uber as customers.
As a LinkedIn software engineer, Narkhede, 34, helped develop Apache Kafka to handle the networking site's huge influx of data and in 2014, she and two LinkedIn colleagues founded Confluent to build tools for companies using Apache Kafka, which became open source in 2011, Forbes said.
The list also includes media mogul Oprah Winfrey ranked 10, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer (12), reality TV star Kylie Jenner (23), fashion designer Tory Burch (29), pop stars Rihanna (37) and Madonna (39), singer Beyonce (51), author Danielle Steel (56), TV show Ellen DeGeneres (63) and tennis star Serena Williams on the 80th spot.
Forbes said more women are creating new businesses and amassing fortunes than ever before, leading it to expand its ranking of the nation's wealthiest self-made women to 80 ceiling crashers, one third more than a year ago.
"Each of these overachievers has blazed her own trail," it said.
List members range in age from 21 to 92, and are worth a combined USD 81.3 billion. The minimum net worth to make Forbes' fifth annual ranking of these women is USD 225 million. A record 25 are billionaires, one more than last year. Nearly half, or 38, live in California, followed by New York with 9. Nineteen were born outside of the US, in countries spanning Burma to Barbados.
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Parliamentary panel to summon airline executives, regulator over flight disruptions
New Delhi (PTI): A parliamentary panel is likely to summon top executives of private airlines and the civil aviation regulator over the mass cancellation of IndiGo flights that has left thousands of travellers stranded across the country's airports.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, chaired by JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, is likely to seek an explanation from top executives of airlines and officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation about the cause of disruption in air services and possible solutions.
A member said the panel has taken serious note of the difficulties faced by thousands of passengers due to disruption in air services.
Even parliamentarians, who were in the national capital for the Winter Session, faced the brunt of flight cancellations by IndiGo and delays by other airlines, the panel member said.
Several MPs also received complaints from people about air fares shooting up due to the scenario.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member John Brittas, who is not part of the standing committee on transport, has demanded setting up of a joint parliamentary committee or a judicial inquiry into the large-scale disruption of flights.
IndiGo cancelled more than 220 flights at Delhi and Mumbai airports on Sunday, as the disruptions entered the sixth day even as efforts were on to normalise operations.
The aviation regulator, DGCA, on Saturday sent notices to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and COO and Accountable Manager Porqueras, seeking explanation.
In a statement issued on Sunday, IndiGo said the Board of Interglobe Aviation, its parent company, has set up a Crisis Management Group, which is meeting regularly to monitor the situation. The company's Board of Directors is doing everything possible to take care of the challenges faced by its customers and ensure refunds to passengers, it said.
