Deepinder Goyal tops Hurun India 2025 self-made entrepreneurs list
According to the rankings, Bengaluru continued to lead as India’s top startup hub with 52 companies, followed by Mumbai with 41 and Gurugram with 36.
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Eternal chief executive officer Deepinder Goyal topped Hurun India’s Top 200 Self-Made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2025 list, overtaking Radhakishan Damani of Avenue Supermarts, as per the latest rankings. Eternal was valued at ₹3.2 lakh crore, marking a 27 per cent increase from last year, while Avenue Supermarts’ valuation declined 13 per cent to ₹3 lakh crore.
Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal of InterGlobe Aviation made their debut in the rankings, entering the top three with IndiGo valued at ₹2.2 lakh crore. Several founders dropped out of the top 10 compared with last year, including Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar of Razorpay, Nithin Kamath and Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha, and Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth of Dream11.
Consumer technology brand Lenskart’s founder Peyush Bansal was ranked tenth. Founded in 2008, Lenskart went public this year at a valuation of ₹70,236 crore, or about $8.4 billion, with the report noting that the company’s valuation rose 60 per cent year-on-year.
Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher at Hurun India, stated that entry into the top 200 has become significantly more challenging, with the threshold rising 1.5 times from around ₹3,000 crore to nearly ₹4,500 crore, adding that what once took decades to achieve is now being reached within 10 to 15 years.
The third edition of Hurun India’s Top 200 Self-Made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia, published in association with IDFC First Bank, tracks wealth creation by India’s post-2000 founders and features 200 of the country’s most valuable young companies. Collectively, these companies were valued at ₹42 lakh crore, or $469 billion, up 15 per cent from last year.
The upper ranks of the list include founders from sectors such as healthcare, food delivery, travel, insurance, fintech and beauty. Vikas Sharma, head of wealth management and private banking at IDFC First Bank, said at the launch event that founders today focus on problem-solving pitches that address real pain points, helping create new markets rather than only scaling existing ones, as reported by The Economic Times.
According to the rankings, Bengaluru continued to lead as India’s top startup hub with 52 companies, followed by Mumbai with 41 and Gurugram with 36. The list also reflected a wide age range among founders, from Zepto co-founders Kaivalya Vohra at 22 and Aadit Palicha at 23 to veteran entrepreneur Ashok Soota of Happiest Minds Technologies at 82. Collectively, the 200 companies employ around eight lakh people.
