Akshata Murthy loses $61 million in one day as Infosys shares drop 9.4%, biggest fall since March 2020

Akshata Murty, wife of the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and daughter of Infosys co-founder, Narayana Murty lost approximately £49 million ($61 million) after Infosys shares dropped 9.4 per cent on Monday. This was the biggest decline in share value for the company since March 2020. This is also the biggest intraday percentage drop since October 2019, and dragged other IT stocks, with the Nifty IT index dropping as much as 7.6 per cent.

Murty's share in Infosys is still worth more than $450 million, according to Bloomberg. Akshata Murty owns 0.95 per cent of Infosys.

Sunak has frequently been criticised for his wife's 'non-domicile' status in the UK, and the opposition has frequently criticised him, citing Murty's failure to register her Infosys dividend earnings for tax purposes in the UK.

While the office of Rishi Sunak declined to comment, Murty's wealth has been an ongoing topic in her husband's political career. Murty received Rs 126.61 crore ($154 million) in dividend income from her Infosys shares in 2022. Last year, the couple faced controversy after it was revealed that Murty had non-domicile status in the UK and had not been paying tax on his overseas profits.

Her spokesman at the time noted that as an Indian citizen, she was unable to hold dual citizenship and that "she has always and will continue to pay UK taxes on all her UK income.”

Watch |Akshata Murty loses $61 million in a day after Infosys stocks tumble

In a separate development on Monday, UK Parliamentary Commissioner for Standard, Daniel Greenberg opened an inquiry against Rishi Sunak to know whether he was faulted for declaring a relevant interest relating to a minority stake owned by his wife in a childcare company. His office said the interest had been “transparently declared” and that the premier would cooperate with Greenberg.

Last month, the prime minister revealed details about his personal finances, disclosing that he had paid over £1 million in UK taxes over the previous three years. His share and capital gains earnings surpassed his political salary.

Sunak and Murty are the wealthiest people to ever live on 10 Downing Street. Murthy roughly owns 0.9% of Infosys Ltd., which is worth nearly $600 million based on Monday's share price.

(With inputs from agencies)

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