Who is Akshata Murty? Find out all about the new UK PM’s wife

Hyderabad: As Rishi Sunak was appointed 57th UK Prime Minister by King Charles III, all eyes are now also turned towards his wife, Akshata Murty. In the run up to becoming the occupant of 10 Downing Street, Akshata invited some static over her not paying taxes living in the UK.

While that wrinkle was resolved after Akshata agreed to pay the taxes from her worldwide income, the unassuming figure is fast becoming a much-searched keyword on search engines.

Here’s a brief look at her history 

Akshata Murty is the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murty and author-turned-philanthropist Sudha Murthy. Born in 1980 in Hubli, Karnataka, she lived with her grandparents as Narayana and Sudha wanted her to be brought up in a simple environment. Her parents at this time lived in Mumbai concentrating on their careers.

After studying in Baldwin Girls’ High School in Bengaluru, she went to California to study French and Economics, and later studied clothes manufacturing in Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, in LA.

Akshata met Rishi Sunak while pursuing an MBA at Stanford University. Sunak was a Fullbright scholar with a first-class degree from Oxford University. The couple fell in love and tied the knot in a simple ceremony in 2009 in Bengaluru.

Apart from a $700 million stake in Infosys shares, she also runs her fashion label Akshata Designs and serves as the director of a venture capital business launched by her father in 2010. The 42-year-old is a director in a gym chain, high-end menswear brand New & Lingwood, a Dutch cleantech incubator fund and a private equity firm. This makes her one of the wealthiest women in the UK.

The couple has two daughters – Krishna and Anoushka.