Deepinder Goyal Tops Self-Made Entrepreneurs List, Indigo Founders Enter Top 10

New Delhi: The latest list of India’s self-made entrepreneurs has seen major shifts this year. Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato, has overtaken Radhakishan Damani of D-Mart to claim the top spot, while IndiGo’s founders, Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, have entered the top 10 for the first time. The list was released by Hurun India.

Zomato’s Rise to Number One
Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato’s parent company Eternal, leads the Hurun India Top 200 Self-Made Entrepreneurs of the Millennium 2025 list. Eternal’s valuation has increased by 27% to ₹3.2 lakh crore, whereas Avenue Supermarkets (D-Mart) has seen a 13% decline to ₹3 lakh crore.

IndiGo Founders Make First Appearance in Top 10
Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, founders of IndiGo, make their debut in the top 10 with the airline valued at ₹2.2 lakh crore. Both are now among the top 3 entrepreneurs on the list.

Notable Exits and Rising Stars
Several last year’s top 10 names, including Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Zerodha founders Nitin and Nikhil Kamath, and Dream11’s Harsh Jain and Bhavit Seth, have dropped out of the top 10. Lenskart founder Piyush Bansal secured the 10th spot. Lenskart, established in 2008, went public this year with a valuation of ₹70,236 crore, marking a 60% increase from the previous year.

Insights from Hurun India
Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher of Hurun India, said, “Making it to the top 200 has become significantly tougher. The minimum valuation threshold has increased 1.5 times—from about ₹3,000 crore last year to nearly ₹4,500 crore now. Achieving milestones that once took decades is now possible in 10–15 years.”

Bengaluru Leads as Startup Hub
Bengaluru continues to dominate as India’s top startup hub with 52 companies, followed by Mumbai (41 companies) and Gurugram (36 companies). The list also highlights a wide age range among founders—from 22-year-old Caevely Vohra of Jepto to 82-year-old Ashok Soota of Happiest Minds Technologies.

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