Manu Balachandran is a writer for Forbes India, based in Bengaluru. At Forbes India, Manu writes on automobiles, aviation, pharmaceuticals, banking, infrastructure, economy and long profiles among many others. He also moderates many of Forbes India's CEO and CXO events and hosts Capital Ideas, a podcast on the most riveting success stories from the business world. He has previously worked with Quartz, The Economic Times and Business Standard in Mumbai and New Delhi. Manu has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University and a degree in economics from the Loyola College. When not chasing stories, he is most likely obsessing over Formula 1 (Read: Lewis Hamilton), historical events and people, or planning long weekend drives from Bengaluru
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Indian-American couple Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi. But the tide seems to be turning in their favour.
After being in and out of the Forbes India Rich List for the past few years, Desai, currently ranked 1999th on Forbes’s billionaire list, could see his wealth swell considerably in a few months. Desai and Sethi sold their company Syntel to French IT firm Atos SE for $3.4 billion. The deal is likely to be completed by the end of 2018.
The couple which holds 57 percent in Syntel is likely to pocket $2 billion from the deal. Syntel, which had $923 million in revenue in fiscal 2017, was started by Desai and Sethi from their apartment in Troy, Michigan, with just $2,000.
Between 2001 and 2015, Syntel had a dream run on the bourses, clocking over 1,760 percent growth in its price. However, by 2016, the stock plunged, after it declared a special cash dividend of $15 per share.