Rishi Sunak – UK’s Youngest PM of Indian Origin

According to the proverb, children do indeed follow in their parent’s footsteps. The recently appointed and ‘Proud Hindu’ PM of the United Kingdom is the ideal example. As a kid, he watched his parents contribute to the community, which made him interested in community activities. From a grounded background and thankful for the possibilities, he had to build his life to become PM to change others. His journey was filled with lessons and experiences, and it was undoubtedly not an easy one. He claims that the experiences of both his own family and his extremely wealthy wife are “very Conservative” tales of sacrifice and desire. Let’s delve deeper into Rishi Sunak’s journey in this article; keep reading to see how a former Chancellor and a Star Wars fan made history by becoming the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Born	12 May 1980 (Age 42) Southampton, Hampshire England
Nationality	British
Religion	Hindu
Parents	Father-Yashvir Sunak Mother- Usha Sunak
Spouse	Akshata Murthy
Children	Krishna Sunak, Anoushka Sunak
Relatives	Father-in-Law – N.R. Narayana Murthy  Mother-in-Law – Sudha Murthy Brother-in-Law- Rohan Murthy
Education	MBA Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)
Alma Mater	Stanford graduate school of Business (2006)Lincoln College (2001)Winchester College
Parliamentary Constituency	Richmond, Yorkshire

Early Life and Family Background

Yashvir and Usha Sunak were African-born Hindus of Indian Punjabi heritage who gave birth to Rishi Sunak, on May 12, 1980, in Southampton, Hampshire.

Following his grandparents’ relocation from Punjab in northwest India to East Africa, his mother and father were born there, in Tanzania and Kenya, respectively. They fell in love and were married after their family moved to Southampton in southern England in the 1960s. The Father of Sunak began working as a general physician for the National Health Service. His mother was a pharmacist who ran a small drugstore. 

While attending Stanford University in California, Sunak met his wife, Akshata Murthy, a fashion designer. In Bengaluru, they exchanged vows in August 2009. Akshata is the daughter of Sudha Murthy, a philanthropist, and Narayan Murthy, one of India’s richest men the co-founder of Infosys. The rags-to-riches tale of Narayan Murthy, who founded his own business in Pune in 1981 with just $250 and a six-person staff, is a popular one among middle-class families all throughout India.

Speaking of Sudha Murthy, Rishi’s mother-in-law has also been a role model for many Indian women. She is a chairperson of the Infosys Foundation and an Indian educator, writer, and philanthropist. N. R. Narayana Murthy, a co-founder of Infosys, is her husband. In 2006, the Indian government presented Mrs Murthy with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour in India, in recognition of her social services. One of Sudha Murthy’s unique facts, which many people are unaware of, is that she had her acting debut in the Marathi movie Pitruroon, which is based on her Kannada novel Rhun. 

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Education 

For Rishi to be able to attend some of the top schools, his parents made significant sacrifices. He had great luck attending Stanford University, Oxford University, and Winchester College. Because of how that encounter altered his life, he is now dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to a top-notch education.

Regarding his early schooling, Rishi Sunak went to Winchester College, a boys’ independent boarding school, where he was the head boy and also an editor of the school newspaper,, and the prep school Stroud School in Romsey.

During his summer vacation, Rishi worked as a waiter at a Southampton curry restaurant. He graduated from Lincoln College in Oxford in 2001 after majoring in philosophy, politics, and economics. He worked at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters as an intern while he was still a student. He earned his MBA in 2006 as a Fulbright scholar at Stanford University. 

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Business Career

He views it as a great fortune that he had the chance to obtain a variety of experiences in both his early business and political careers. He had worn many hats, from working with businesses in Silicon Valley to Banglore, from leading a huge company to helping his mother out at her pharmacy shop. Along the way, he had many entrepreneurial experiences and met some fantastic individuals. 

Sunak joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2001 after graduating from Oxford, and he remained there until 2004. He later studied for an MBA at Stanford University as a Fulbright scholar, where he met his future wife, Akshata Murthy, who is the daughter of a wealthy Indian businessman and cofounder of Infosys, Narayana Murthy. Sunak returned to the UK in 2006 and began working with The Children’s Investment Fund Management (TCI), where he remained until 2009. In addition, Sunak served as a director of his father-in-investing law company, Catamaran Ventures.

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Political Career

Sunak started working for the Conservative Party in 2010. He also got associated with Policy Exchange, a prominent conservative think tank, during this time, and in 2014 he was appointed head of the BME Research Unit. With a majority of 36.2 per cent votes in the constituency in 2015, he was elected as the MP.

After being elected as the Yorkshire MP for Richmond in May 2015, Rishi served as the under-secretary of state for local government in the Parliament during 2018 and 2019. He became the chief secretary to the Treasury in 2019. By taking office as the Exchequer’s chancellor in February 2020, he started a whole new journey of his political career. He left, though, claiming disagreements with Boris Johnson, in July 2022.

He lost to Liz Truss in the contest to succeed Johnson as UK prime minister. Fortunately, after Truss’ brief administration, Rishi became the first-ever PM of Indian descent in the UK, making history and delivering the most positive news by setting an example for our future generation.

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Controversies

Rishi and Akshata have regularly come under scrutiny for their great wealth due to their association with the Murthy family. 

The couple was also embroiled in a few issues, such as the most recent one in which Rishi’s wife, Akshata’s name appeared in various tax arrangements and claimed non-domicile status, which exempts her from paying taxes on income from other sources.

What to Expect from Rishi Sunak as PM?

After losing in September and then winning the position of Prime Minister in October, this new generation’s PM now carries a lot of responsibility. His to-do list includes responding to calls for a general election, the European energy crisis, the imminent U.K. recession, and reassuring financial markets of the U.K.’s economic competence following the Truss administration’s turmoil.

Rishi Sunak, who is still a relative newcomer to British politics, played his cards wisely and, in less than ten years, rose from being a member of parliament to Chancellor of the Exchequer and, as of today, the 57th Prime Minister of the UK. Sunak had previously stated his aim to alter the UK-India relationship in order to facilitate easier access for UK students and companies in India. Additionally, With a 96 per cent acceptance rate for student visas, about 1,65,000 Indian students have already immigrated to the UK between 2019 and 2022 alone, making them the largest student diaspora in the nation. Officials from India and the UK are collaborating closely to facilitate student mobility and improve the chances for Indian students to be successful in the global employment market. Only last year, the two nations unveiled the India-UK Roadmap 2030 to open the door to closer cooperation between them, enabling increased information and idea exchange between institutions and fostering the reciprocal mobility of students, instructors, and researchers.

His pledges to establish a stable administration, address economic problems, and improve ties with India will all be significant steps forward for Indian students who want to study overseas. 

We hoped that this blog will educate you more about the “new era” British prime minister and his quest. Contact the experts at Leverage Edu to learn more about overseas education and the application process for studying abroad.