By Gazi Abbas Shahid

Copyright india

India has become a hub of billionaires over the last decade with the number of women billionaires also witnessing a significant rise. While most rich women have either inherited the wealth from family or are heirs of some royal family the story of Renuka Jagtiani is unique as she and her husband Micky Jagtiani who once worked as a cab driver in London built their fortune from scratch.
Who is Renuka Jagtiani?
Renuka Jagtiani the wife of late Indian-origin billionaire Micky Jagtiani is the chairwoman of the Landmark Group which has businesses spread across 24 countries around the globe. Renuka 71 is ranked 3rd among the top 10 richest women in India with a net worth of $5.6 billion according to Forbes.
Notably Renuka Jagtiani the third richest woman in India after Savitri Jindal and Rekha Jhunjhunwala has witnessed a remarkable increase in her fortune in recent times adding $1 billion to her net worth over the last one year.
What is Renuka Jagtianis business?
Renuka Jagtiani heads the Landmark Group– a Dubai-based conglomerate established by her late billionaire husband Micky Jagtiani in 1973 in Bahrain. Today the group has more than 2200 stores in 24 countries across the world including the Middle East Africa South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
The Landmark Group which started its business in India in 1999 has over 900 stores across the country while its hotel business is growing at a rapid pace as per Forbes.
How Micky Jagtiani built a multinational conglomerate from scratch?
Renukas husband Micky Jagtiani has a truly inspirational rags-to-riches story as he once used drive a cab on the streets of London in the early 1970s but persevered to build a successful business which has today grown into a multinational conglomerate with business interests spanning across 24 countries.
Mickys parents had moved to Kuwait in the 1950s where he was born on August 15 1952. Micky attended school in Chennai Mumbai and Beirut before moving to an accounting school in London. However circumstance forced him to drop out of school and work as a cleaner in a hotel and a cab driver to earn a living.
In 1972 Micky Jagtiani moved back to Bahrain where he took over his deceased brothers shop and sold baby products including toys. After the passing of his parents and older brother Micky reportedly invested his $6000 savings in the shop naming it Babyshop. Mickys store which primarily focused on South Asian immigrant families was later renamed Landmark.
After operating the store for nearly 10 years Micky worked on expanding his business and opened six new stores in Bahrain but he and Renuka moved to Dubai during the Gulf war where they established the Landmark Group.
How Landmark Group became a global powerhouse?
Gradually the Micky Jagtiani and Renuka Jagtianis Landmark Group started diversifying its business interests expanding into fashion electronics furniture and budget hotels in Middle East and Southeast Asia. Today the conglomerate has over 45000 employees and operates more than 2200 stores across 24 countries including 900 outlets in India.
Micky Jagtiani first entered the Forbes billionaires list in 2008 when he acquired a 6% stake in the UK high-street retailer Debenhams. He was ranked the 16th richest Indian at the time with a net worth of $2 billion.
Jagtiani passed away on May 26 2023 after a prolonged illness. He was 70. The billionaire entrepreneur who had a net worth of $5.2 billion at the time of his passing is survived by his wife Renuka Jagtiani and three children– daughters Aarti Jagtaini and Nisha Jagtiani and son Rahul Jagtiani.