Indians are leading several big companies across the world such as Sundar Pichai at Google and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Many of them also built their own companies and later became billionaires. In this article, we will tell you about one such Indian billionaire who built India’s largest airline and is now set to lead a US firm as chairman. His name is Rakesh Gangwal, co-founder of IndiGo, a Rs 152000 crore market cap company.
Gangwal has been appointed as the chairman of American carrier Southwest Airlines. The 71-year-old joined the board of Southwest in July this year and had also acquired 36 lakh shares worth USD 108 million (around Rs 906 crore) of the airline recently.
He is an IIT alumnus who began his airline career with United Airlines in 1984 and later built India’s largest airline, IndiGo. He holds a B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur (1975). Gangwal also earned an MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In April 2022, Gangwal announced donating Rs 100 crore to IIT Kanpur for setting up the School of Medical Sciences and Technology on the campus. According to Forbes, he has a real-time net worth of Rs 46255 crore.
READ | Meet daughter of billionaire, who studied in UK, now works in Rs 32770 crore Indian company as...
An aviation industry veteran, Gangwal has also served as President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the US Airways Group. Among other roles, he was also the Chairman, President and CEO of Worldspan Technologies.
He had a bitter fallout with co-founder Rahul Bhatia and the differences came out in the open in 2019. Gangwal, in February 2022, resigned from the board of directors of InterGlobe Aviation, parent of IndiGo, saying he would gradually reduce his equity stake in the airline over the next five years.
In August 2024, Gangwal and his family trust sold a total of 5.83 per cent stake in the carrier for about Rs 10,500 crore. After the share sale, Gangwal's stake in InterGlobe Aviation came down to 5.31 per cent from 5.89 per cent while that of Chinkerpoo Family Trust reduced to 8.24 per cent from 13.49 per cent.
(With inputs from PTI)
