Rishi Sunak’s wife lost around £49 million today after shares in an Indian firm she is invested in tumbled.
Akshata Murty owns a 0.94 per cent stake in software company Infosys, which was co-founded by her billionaire father Narayana Murthy.
Shares in the firm plunged after a negative outlook for India’s technology sector was issued, according to financial newswire Bloomberg.
Infosys shares were down 9.4 per cent when trading closed – the biggest drop since March 2020.
It means a multi-million loss for Murty, who is estimated to be worth almost three-quarters of a billion pounds according to The Sunday Times Rich List.
Dividend payments
Last week it was revealed that Murty would receive almost £6.7 million in dividend payments this summer from her Infosys shares.
It would take her dividends from the company for the financial year to £13 million.
The revelations come as Rishi Sunak faces an investigation over allegations of a possible failure to declare the shares his wife holds in a childcare agency that was boosted by the Budget.
Parliament’s standards watchdog opened the inquiry into the Prime Minister under rules demanding MPs are “open and frank” when declaring their interests.
The investigation relates to the shares Akshata Murthy holds in Koru Kids, a Downing Street source told the PA news agency on Monday.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister will clarify how it was declared as a ministerial interest, rather than to the Commons.
“Open and frank”
As MPs returned from their Easter break, an update from Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg showed he had opened the investigation under the Commons code of conduct on Thursday.
“Members must always be open and frank in declaring any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its committees, and in any communications with ministers, members, public officials or public office holders,” the relevant section reads.
A No 10 spokeswoman responded: “We are happy to assist the commissioner to clarify how this has been transparently declared as a ministerial interest.”
Sunak faced demands to “come clean” about his family shares last month after being questioned by MPs over why the childcare policy favoured private firms.
Appearing before the Liaison Committee, he did not mention Murthy’s shares in the firm, in which she has been listed as a shareholder on Companies House.
A fortnight earlier, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a pilot of incentive payments of £600 for childminders joining the profession.
Questioning why the sum doubles to £1,200 if workers sign up through an agency, Labour MP Catherine McKinnell asked if Sunak had any interests to declare.
“No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way,” Sunak said.
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