Rank #1269
Karsanbhai Patel
Net worth $3.4B
Consumer goods, cement · India
- Born
- Jan 07, 1944
- Age
- 82
- Source
- Consumer goods, cement
- Residence
- Ahmedabad
- Citizenship
- India
- Marital status
- Married
- Children
- 3
- Education
Net worth over time
Biography
- Low-profile founder of Nirma, Karsanbhai Patel, started out mixing detergents in his backyard and selling them door-to-door on his bicycle.
- His low-price Nirma brand sparked a detergents war with bigger rivals such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble.
- Today Nirma is one of the largest producers of soda ash in the world by volume.
- Patel has long handed over operations to the next generation and took the company private in 2012. His cement unit Nuvoco Vistas was listed in 2021.
- In 2024, Nirma completed the $680 million acquisition of a 75% stake in Glenmark Life Sciences, a maker of pharmaceutical ingredients, since renamed as Alivus Life Sciences.
- Patel was born into a farmer's family in Gujarat and started his career as a lab assistant.
- Nirma is named after Patel's late daughter Nirupama.
Financial assets
| Exchange | Ticker | Shares | Price |
|---|