Renuka Ramnath: The value creator

Ramnath, who has built and leads a homegrown private equity firm, says her focus is on nurturing worthy entrepreneurs and converting smart graduates into high-quality professionals

By Neha Bothra Forbes India Staff

Published: Apr 21, 2025 01:14:52 PM IST

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Renuka Ramnath, Founder, MD and CEO, Multiples Alternate Asset Management Image: Joshua Navalkar; Imaging: Kapil Kashyap

Renuka Ramnath, founder, managing director and CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management, in a career spanning over three decades, has shaped the country’s financial landscape, and played a key role in the incubation and the growth of business ventures across sectors. The ups and downs of her investing journey have helped her master the art of riding unpredictable market conditions while nurturing high-performing teams and long-lasting client relationships.

Born in Mumbai, Ramnath graduated from VJTI College and pursued a master’s degree in management science from Bombay University. After a brief stint as a management trainee at Crompton Greaves, she joined ICICI Bank in 1986. She rose through the ranks at the financial conglomerate. After heading equities at ICICI Securities for nearly four years, in 2001, Ramnath got a big professional break when she was appointed to lead ICICI Ventures as its managing director and chief executive. Under her leadership, between 2001 and 2009, ICICI Venture’s AUM (assets under management) rose from around $200 million to over $2.5 billion, and its legacy portfolio fund returned nearly 3.6 times to investors.

Ramnath soon decided to don the hat of an entrepreneur and set up one of the first homegrown private equity (PE) firms in 2009. She founded Multiples PE and about $400 million to close Fund I. In doing so, she became one of the few women to successfully break into a male-dominated industry.

“Multiples is a culmination of my beliefs, experiences and relationships coming together to channelise high-quality, long-term capital towards the growth of the Indian economy,” Ramnath says in a company blog post. “At Multiples, I aim to build a lasting, highly successful and reputed institution that will deliver the potential of alternative investments in India.”

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Over the years, her nuanced strategy of diversification has helped her build a portfolio that bucked the downturn. As per reports, Fund I and Fund II gave returns of 3x and 4x, respectively. “We look for major shifts and transformative growth stories and consistently deliver healthy results,” says the company’s investment team. “Our portfolio is blowout-proof, ensuring no significant impact of any single risk.”

Since 2009, as per Multiples PE, it has raised around $3 billion and has invested across six key sectors in more than 30 companies, such as Licious, PVR Cinemas, Delhivery and Dream11, to name a few. In February, the alternative asset management company said it had acquired a controlling stake in software development company QBurst for around $200 million. This investment marked Multiple PE’s largest investment in the technology space. In May 2023, against a challenging fundraising environment, Multiples PE announced the close of its Fund IV at over $640 million.

“My core focus is to nurture worthy entrepreneurs, and to convert smart graduates into high-quality investment professionals,” Ramnath adds. “In that journey, I expect the best from myself, the entrepreneurs with whom I work and from my team.”

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Multiples invested close to ₹106 crore in Chennai-headquartered NBFC Cholamandalam Investment and Finance in 2012 at a time when the Murugappa Group company was navigating a challenging phase of growth. Ramnath helped the company realign its business strategy and strengthen leadership. Multiples exited with a 3x return in 2015.

Vellayan Subbiah, chairman, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, and executive vice chairman, Tube Investments of India, credits Ramnath’s intuitive and instinctive approach for shaping his journey as an entrepreneur.

“Ramnath has constantly been a thought partner and mentor for me. I was faced with a situation when I had a challenge in managing the board. I approached Renuka—she helped me navigate a solution that was astute and balanced; and an extremely good outcome both for me and others involved,” Subbiah says. “She doesn’t work off spreadsheets and models—she understands what it takes to build a business, and partners with the entrepreneur at every stage of his or her journey.”

Ramnath is a connoisseur of paintings and enjoys Indian classical music. “When I am not helping build businesses, I take great pleasure in conceptualising and building spaces,” she shares in the blog post. “Designing unique and inspiring spaces satisfies my aesthetic inclinations and marries it with my love for the fine arts.”

(This story appears in the 18 April, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)