From Gautam Adani To Nikhil Kamath, Here Are 7 Dropouts Who Went On To Become Billionaires In India

“Beta 12th kar lo fir aish hi aish hai, degree le lo fir aish hi aish hai.” How many times have we been told this by our elders? Way too many times, right? But the concept of having a degree to become successful in life is so passé, and these dropouts who went on to become billionaires in India are proof of that.

1. Gautam Adani

As of today, Gautam Adani is the richest man in Asia and the sixth richest man in the world, with a net worth of $121 billion. However, Gautam Adani is a college dropout. He was in the second year of his graduation from Gujarat University when he dropped out of college to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.

2. Mukesh Ambani

The first position for the richest man in India is always a game of cat and mouse between Adani and Ambani. With Gautam Adani’s net worth going stonks, Mukesh Ambani became the second richest man in India, with a net worth of $97.6 billion. He dropped out of Stanford University, where he was pursuing an MBA.

3. Azim Premji

Azim Premji was the former chairman of Wipro Ltd. He was 21 and was studying at Stanford University when he got to know about the untimely demise of his father. He had to drop out and come back to India to take care of his family business. Since then, he has grown Western India Vegetable Products Ltd. (now Wipro) to unimaginable heights.

4. Savitri Jindal

Savitri Jindal is the chairperson emeritus of O.P. Jindal Group, whose interests include steel, power, cement, and infrastructure. She has never had any formal education and yet heads the company successfully and has a net worth of $19.8 billion. She’s not really a dropout but definitely deserves a mention on this list.

5. Subhash Chandra

Subhash Chandra is the chairman of the Essel Group and founded Zee TV in 1992. In his early life, his family had debts and could not afford his higher education. Hence, he had to drop out of school to join his family business of commission agents and traders, who procured and supplied rice to the Food Corporation of India.

6. Nikhil Kamath

Nikhil Kamath is the co-founder of Zerodha. He began trading at the age of 17, after dropping out of school. From starting his first business at the age of 14 to taking a job at a call centre at the age of 17 to co-founding Zerodha to becoming one of the youngest billionaires in India, Nikhil Kamath has come a long way.

Nobody told you ‘why’ you should do something, you just ‘had’ to do it; it was inhibiting.

-Nikhil Kamath

7. Mukesh (Micky) Jagtiani

Mukesh (Micky) Jagtiani is an Indian billionaire based in the UAE. He is the chairman and owner of the Landmark group, which started off with just one store in Bahrain. He went to London for a degree in Economics but dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial journey. Today, Landmark Group has over 2,300 stores worldwide.