Only 8% Women Part of Avendus Wealth & Hurun India List

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 22 January 2026

• Avendus Wealth Group, Uth Series 2025, lists entrepreneurs under 40, leading organizations worth over $950 billion
• This list portrays a major gender imbalance with a meager female representation standing at 8%

Avendus Wealth and Hurun India's Uth Series 2025, which showcases entrepreneurs under 40 running companies worth over $950 billion, points out a rather large gap in the representation of women, who make up just 8 percent of the list. Out of 436 people, just 36 are women.

"Of course, the number is going up, but whether this is reflected in the figures or when this will come into the total figures, only time will tell," said Apoorva Sahajwani, MD and CEO of Avendus Wealth Management.

"Being in the industry for so many years, we are noticing that people are bringing their daughters into the family office or the business," she added.

When compared to other countries’ lists, India stands out as a country that is struggling when it comes to the number of females listed. For example, in the China Youths List, there are 86 females listed compared to India's 36.

Anas Rahman Junaid, the Founder and Chief Researcher of Hurun India, noted that although the UK does much better, India is a long way off when compared to China.

Factors such as societal development were attributed by Anas to the gender gap, since for most women; the process of being an entrepreneur involves overcoming societal obstacles that men do not encounter.

The youngest woman on this list is Shreya Mishra, 36 years old, and co-founder of SolarSquare, a solar energy firm. Other women entrepreneurs include Ghazal Alagh from Mamaearth, Vidhi Shanghvi from Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and Alisha Rafique Malik from Metro Brands.

The prevalence of first-generation entrepreneurs is evident as 349 out of 436, or nearly 80 percent, are first-generation entrepreneurs. Sahajwani observed that nearly 80 percent are first-generation owners, which shows that the opportunity is great in India.

Region-wise, Bengaluru has the maximum number of 109 entrepreneurs, while Mumbai stands second with 87 entrepreneurs, and New Delhi has 45 entrepreneurs.

Coming to the educational institution, IIT Kharagpur has a maximum of 27 entrepreneurs, while IIT Delhi has 26 entrepreneurs, followed by IIT Madras with 22 entrepreneurs. The top five IITs have accounted for close to a quarter of all entrepreneurs featured.

Software products and services is currently the leading sector with 77 entrants, financial services standing second with 44 entrants, and healthcare coming thirds with 37 entrants. All the entrepreneurs in this list combined have over 1.2 million employees, with Reliance Retail, led by Isha Ambani, being the largest employer with 247,782 employees.

Second generation entrepreneurs represent 37 entrepreneurs, while third generation leaders represent 36, making up a total of 50 entrepreneurs from the second generation onwards.

The cutoff point for the list is September 1, 2025, with valuations set at either $100 million for first generation U40 founders or at $200 million for next generation leaders.