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Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index

⬅ # 483 Paul Singer|# 485 Dan Friedkin ➡

# 484 Rakesh Gangwal 

$6.14B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 7/25/2024
$68.0M (1.11%)

# 484 Rakesh Gangwal 

$6.14B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 7/25/2024
$68.0M (1.11%)
OccupationCofounder, IndiGo
Source of WealthAirline
Age71
ResidenceMiami, Florida
Marital StatusMarried
Children1
EducationBS in Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology; MBA, University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$2.92B
Rakesh Gangwal
Rakesh Gangwal
United States
Net worth: $6.14B

Self-Made Score 

Wealth History

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Biography

Overview

Rakesh Gangwal, an Indian-American billionaire businessman, amassed his fortune primarily through his involvement in the aviation industry, notably as the co-founder and 25.2% owner of IndiGo airline, India's largest by market share.
Gangwal began his airline career with United Airlines in 1984 and later served as the chief executive officer and chairman of US Airways Group before venturing into founding IndiGo with Rahul Bhatia in 2006.
IndiGo, headquartered near Delhi, started with just one aircraft and has since grown to become one of the largest airlines globally, with over 2,000 daily flights to 122 destinations.
In April 2022, Gangwal made headlines by announcing his resignation from IndiGo's board, signaling his intention to gradually sell his holdings over the next five years.

Early Life

Born on July 25, 1952, Rakesh Gangwal attended Don Bosco (Park Circus) before earning a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1975.
He later pursued an MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Gangwal moved to the United States in 1977 after completing his bachelor's degree and began his career with Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc., working closely with United Airlines.
His early career included positions at Ford Motor Co and Philips India Ltd before he joined United Airlines in 1984 as the manager for strategic planning.

Career

Gangwal served as executive vice president for Air France before becoming the president and CEO of US Airways Group from 1998 to 2001.
He also held various advisory and board positions, including at the University of Colorado (Denver), Airline Tariff Publishing Co., and the board of trustees of Providence St. Mel School.
In 2003, Gangwal led Worldspan Technologies as its chairman, president, and CEO until August 2007.
Gangwal's philanthropic efforts include a significant donation of ₹100 crore towards setting up a school of medical sciences and technology at IIT-Kanpur in April 2022.

Personal Life

Rakesh Gangwal resides in Miami, Florida, with his family, including his daughter Parul.
Parul Gangwal previously worked for Salesforce in California and launched her own start-up, Wheelhouse Capital, in June 2021.

IndiGo and Business Ventures

IndiGo, co-founded by Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia in 2006, emerged as India's largest airline by passengers carried and fleet size, boasting a 60.1% domestic market share as of February 2024.
The airline, headquartered in Gurgaon, India, operates over 2,000 daily flights to 122 destinations, both domestic and international, with a fleet of over 350 aircraft.
In December 2019, IndiGo placed a landmark order for 300 Airbus A320neo aircraft worth ₹2.3 lakh crore (US$29 billion), marking the largest single order ever in Airbus history.
IndiGo's success is attributed to its unique business model, focusing on cost reduction strategies, streamlined operations, and maintaining high punctuality.
Despite facing occasional challenges, such as fines imposed by Indian aviation regulators, IndiGo remains a dominant force in the aviation industry, continuously expanding its fleet and market presence.

How long would it take you to become as rich as Rakesh Gangwal?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 44.11% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach Rakesh Gangwal's net worth of $6.14B.

Is this realistic? It depends how closely the VIX-TA-Macro Advanced model performs to its history in the future. Since Grizzly Bulls launched on January 1, 2022, it's returned 52.22% compared to 16.62% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

Enter data in all but one field below, then calculate the missing value

Rakesh Gangwal is very wealthy, but what's stopping you from reaching that same level of success? As summarized in our five fundamental rules to wealth building, becoming wealthy in a modern capitalist economy is not complicated. There's actually only three variables:

  1. Your starting capital
  2. Your earnings after expenses
  3. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your savings

Most people start with zero or very little, so if you weren't born into wealth, don't fret! The majority of the fortunate folks listed in our Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index came from middle class or lower backgrounds. The most distinguishing characteristic of the group is their ability to consistently earn a high CAGR on their savings.

Every billionaire has a unique strategy to achieve high CAGR. For Rakesh Gangwal, Airline is the primary source. Whether you choose to invest your savings in your own businesses or the businesses of others is not as important. The salient piece of the puzzle is ensuring that your hard-earned savings are generating sufficient CAGR to reach your long term goals.

Most people simply invest their money in index funds and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it guarantees relative mediocrity. To achieve greatness, you need to invest your money to earn higher than average returns. In the long run, better investors will always finish ahead of better earners.

Source: Grizzly Bulls reporting

Methodology: Grizzly Bulls' Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires and richest people. Grizzly Bulls strives to provide the most accurate net worth calculations available. We pull data from public equity markets, SEC filings, public real estate records, and other reputable sources.

The index is dynamic and updates daily at the close of U.S. stock market trading based on changes in the markets, economy, and updates to Grizzly Bulls' proprietary algorithm of personal wealth calculation. Stakes in public companies are tracked daily based on the relevant closing prices of the underlying securities. Additionally, stakes in private companies, cash, real estate, and other less easily valued assets are updated periodically through careful analysis of insider transactions, comparable public company sales / EBITDA multiples, etc.

Edited by: Lee Bailey