In 2022, the ranking of the Bloomberg billionaires list will be updated, and the richest men and women in Asia are Indians.
The current richest man in India, Gautam Adani, has assets of US$146.8 billion, becoming the second richest man in the world, second only to Musk; and 72-year-old Indian female entrepreneur Savitri Jindal has become the richest woman in Asia.
In the impression of netizens, Indian women generally have a low status. What kind of talent does Savitri have to stand out in a patriarchal society? Going to see her background, I was a little shocked. She hardly ever went to school. She was accused of marriage at the age of 15. She was a housewife in the first half of her life. She gave birth to 9 children and led 4 sons in the second half of her life. shopping malls, becoming the richest woman in India and even in Asia.
Exactly how she did it, come and see today.
Savitri Jindal was born in an ordinary family in Assam, India on March 20, 1950. Because of the poverty of her family, as a girl, she hardly ever went to school.
At the age of 15, she was accused by her father of marrying industrialist OP Jindal. Who is this Jindal? He was Savitri’s brother-in-law, 20 years her senior, that’s him.
Savitri’s older sister died unfortunately after marrying Jindal, and the family decided to give birth to another younger sister. The older sister and Jindal have had six children, the oldest son being only two years younger than Savitri. Savitri was accused of marrying Jindal at the age of 20 after five years of marriage, when Jindal was already 40 years old. Savitri later gave birth to 3 children and raised them together, making a total of 9 children.
OP Jindal is the core of this family, and “Forbes” magazine commented on him: he is a real self-made billionaire. He was born in rural India without any formal engineering education, but he has a strong interest in machines and technology, and volunteered to help auto repair shops since he was a child.
In 1952, Jindal started his business, first opened a small bucket manufacturing factory, and gradually developed into a pipe factory and a steel factory. Jindal’s biographer once said: “He is one of India’s greatest untrained engineers.” He often designed the machines in the factory by himself, worked hard to innovate, opened factories all over India, and established a huge business in just a few years. steel industry empire.
While her husband was expanding his territory, Savitri did not participate in the development of the business at all, and she did not even ask her husband how much money he made. In traditional Indian society, men are in charge of everything outside, and women only need to play the role of mother and wife.
Savitri said in an interview with “Forbes” in 2010: I have been in the four walls of the mansion for 36 years. In our house, women will not venture out. I have not even been to the market in the city. Jindal used to say that everyone in the market was my relatives and elders, but the women in our family were not supposed to talk to them.
Although she has no right to speak in Jindal’s business empire, Savitri is the glue of the whole family. She takes good care of all 9 children. After the 4 sons get married, they still live with their wives and children. Lives in the big mansion of the Jindal family. Savitri divided the mansion into 4 separate areas connected by a communal kitchen where all lived together.
Life was peaceful and harmonious. Originally, Savitri probably spent his life peacefully like this, but no one thought that in 2005, Jindal, the head of the family, was unfortunately killed in a helicopter accident.
Savitri inherited everything from her husband, and now she must venture beyond those four walls.
Fortunately, the smart Jindal already has a succession plan. He put his four sons in charge of the four major parts of the family business: the eldest Pasveza is in charge of the pipeline company, the second son Saza is in charge of the steel company, the third son Karitan is in charge of the stainless steel company, and the fourth son Navin has studied in the United States and is in charge of the power company .
Jindal can not only design machines, but also design corporate structures. He let his four sons each hold one-fifth of the shares in each company, and he himself holds one-fifth. This means that each son can control his own company and also get a share in the brother’s company.
After Jindal’s death, this structure largely maintained the stability of the family, with the four sons operating independently without separation. Savitri inherited Jindal’s one-fifth stake in each company and has a lot of say.
Savitri is also very smart. After walking out of the fence, she did not intervene in the business activities of her sons. After all, the sons are all experienced bosses, and what she has to do is to unite the children.
Every year, March 31 and August 7 are Jindal’s death and birthday, and the family will find time to get together. The sons still all live in the big house and don’t interfere with each other’s work on a daily basis, but if someone starts a new project or has a problem, the brothers sit down and discuss it together.
