Rajesh Sharma has much to thank the city of Mumbai for. Especially, when it comes to making him a billionaire.
After all, it’s the country’s financial capital that sheltered him as a 20-something graduate, when he left his nondescript hometown of Mukundgarh in Rajasthan to pursue a career in chartered accountancy. It was also the city that showed him that pedigree was inconsequential, and what mattered was fortitude and perseverance.
“When you are in a city like Bombay (Mumbai) you can aspire for anything,” Sharma says. “People look at what you can do, not what background you come from or who you are. That is the beauty of this city.” Sharma moved to the city in 1989 and has since made it his home. In the process, he built a financial services firm, was arrested for an alleged bribes-for-loans scam, rebuilt his business into a notable Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC), mopped up sporting franchises from kho kho to cricket, and this year, joined the coveted Forbes billionaires’ club.