From Isha Ambani to Nikhil Kamath, the new establishment of India’s business world

Astute and focussed, the new establishment of India’s corporate world might be inheritors of a legacy, but each has carved out their own space. If a 22-year-old made a fortune out of starting a grocery delivery business, a 43-year-old Indian woman shattered glass ceilings by becoming the world’s fifth-richest lady. A school dropout has changed the face of stock broking and a 20-something young man is infusing digital innovation into his family empire. HELLO! takes a dive into their visions and corporate journeys.

1. Ananya Birla

Here’s a heart-to-heart with Ananya Birla, the ‘boss babe’ who can fly high with ideas but has her feet firmly planted on the ground.

HELLO!: Earlier this year, you launched your fragrance line, Contraband. Tell us about your passion for fragrances and how they reflect one’s social signature.

Ananya Birla: I have some beautiful memories of my great aunt, who passed away last year. I guess this was a way of bringing her back to life. Her wardrobe was packed with perfumes. Every time I visited Kolkata, or the Birla Park, she would give me one perfume. I still have many of those perfumes and remember the way she used to smell. I wish I had asked her then about the perfume she was wearing. I was too young to understand what was going on. The way someone smells can trigger something deep within you that you wouldn’t know existed. So Contraband is an attitude. It is an outlook on life. It is about being who you are unapologetically. It is something I live by every single day.

HELLO!: You advocate for mental health through the Ananya Birla Foundation. Do you think India has become more sensitive to psychological challenges today?

Ananya Birla: Mental health advocacy is deeply personal to me. We’ve supported thousands of individuals through our foundation—via helplines, counselling services and awareness initiatives. I do believe the conversation in India is evolving. There’s more openness now, along with more language to articulate emotions like anxiety, grief or burnout. That said, mental wellness is still far from being treated as a core part of public health. We’re working to change that. There’s progress, yes, but the journey is far from over.

HELLO!: What advice would you give to people struggling with the breakneck speed of innovation and disruption?

Ananya Birla: We don’t always have to disrupt. What matters most is having a clear vision, a real value-add, and ensuring it makes commercial sense. If you truly believe in what you’re offering—and its business potential—that’s powerful in itself. Sometimes, it’s not about shaking things up but simply offering something different.

2. Isha Ambani Piramal

The only daughter of Nita and Mukesh Ambani and the beloved daughter-in-law of the Piramal parivar, Isha is a bright spark, a lady of sharp acumen and a dynamic entrepreneur who has built not one but many success stories from scratch. A Yale University graduate with a double major in psychology and South Asian studies, she completed her MBA from Stanford University, returning to swiftly don the business boots. Since then, Isha has played a pivotal role in conceptualising and launching Jio as well as Ajio, the fashion e-commerce giant. She also steered the omnichannel beauty platform Tira that’s giving every other site a run for its money.

An art enthusiast, Isha helps her mother oversee the art and culture initiatives undertaken by Reliance Foundation in India and internationally. She’s passionate about education and anchors their work with children and women. She’s also integrally involved with the launch and operations of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai, and the sight of her enjoying a musical with her family at the auditorium or looking engrossed in art is not rare. Being Isha Ambani Piramal is not easy, but this petite princess sure does justice to that role.

An understated fashionista, she enjoys bespoke dressing, including the stunning tone-on-tone golden lehenga that Valentino designed exclusively for her to wear at her wedding—that being the only lehenga to ever get made under the label.

3. Nikhil Kamath 

Now the Zerodha co-founder, billionaire entrepreneur, trader and investor, Nikhil’s journey from dropping out of school after Class 10 to founding Zerodha with his brother and reaching a net worth of an estimated Rs 256 billion is the stuff legends are made of. Hailing from Karnataka’s Shimoga, he joined a call centre after leaving school, began equity trading and eventually founded Zerodha—India’s largest stock brokerage platform today. The 38-year-old’s Zerodha brought in a revolution of sorts in retail trading, offering zero brokerage fees and a tech-driven approach. In 2019, he also launched a wealth management company, True Beacon, which caters to high net worth individuals.

Earlier this year, Nikhil made news when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his podcast debut on “WTF is with Nikhil Kamath,” where the two-hour podcast covered a wide range of topics on the state leader’s life.

The entrepreneur spreads knowledge about stock broking through his social media platforms and supports young entrepreneurs in the AI and technology sectors. We expect news of even more investments in the offing. He built India’s largest stock brokerage platform, which revolutionised stock-buying in India. His “WTF is with Nikhil Kamath” podcast is immensely popular—he even pulled off a coup by getting PM Modi on the show.

4. Keshav Reddy

Keshav was all of 20 when he started his first entrepreneurial venture, The Indian Brand, an India-inspired clothing brand. “It showed me how a single idea, when nurtured with the right intent and execution, could grow into something transformative. That sense of building for impact has been ingrained in me ever since,” he shares. “Over time, I’ve come to realise that my path lies in merging legacy with innovation. Since then, I’ve launched multiple companies with the same drive and conviction.”

At GVK Airports, where Keshav began his career in the non-aeronautical team, he gradually rose through the ranks, took on additional responsibilities in business development—bidding for new airport projects—and eventually moved into corporate finance, where he led their fundraising efforts. “These diverse experiences shaped me into the entrepreneurial and disciplined executor I am today,” says Keshav, who’s always been passionate about building a company from scratch, “one used daily by hundreds of millions.”

That’s what led him to incubate and become the CEO of Equal, which has grown into India’s largest data-sharing company, handling over a billion transactions annually for 70 million Indians. “Looking back, everything I’ve done led me to this moment. Today, I lead Equal, Aragen Life Sciences, GVK EMRI [the world’s largest ambulance service], and one of India’s leading family offices, Reddy Ventures,” he says with a conviction that’s telling of his hard work.

Channelling one of his icons, Elon Musk, Keshav believes AI will change the world of business, “reshape operational efficiency, decisionmaking and consumer experiences.” “At Equal, we view AI as a bridge to greater accessibility—simplifying secure information access and making essential services more user-friendly. Our vision is to develop an AI-driven assistant that empowers 100 million Indians, ensuring that financial, healthcare and digital interactions become more seamless.”

For Keshav, entrepreneurship is about solving real problems with solutions that facilitate lasting change. He’s drawn to challenges where he can merge technology and infrastructure “to improve lives in meaningful ways.” “With Equal, for instance, we saw an opportunity to revolutionise how financial data is shared in India. Instead of building just another fintech product, we focused on creating a foundational layer—an infrastructure that empowers millions of Indians with seamless financial services. The goal was to build something that not only solves today’s problems but also scales for the future.”

Interview by Neeva Jain, Rewati Rau

Text by Rewati Rau, Anshu Khanna

Photographs by Sasha Jairam for Ananya Birla, Ryan Martis for Keshav Reddy, Tarun Vishwa for Isha Ambani, Hardik Chhabra/ITG for Nikhil Kamath