The Hurun India Rich List 2024 includes over 300 Indian billionaires, among which the founders of fintech firm Razorpay are recognized as the youngest billionaires in India. Yes, Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar are friends whose dynamic partnership has brought them among the wealthiest in the nation. Their journey to this pinnacle is truly fascinating...
Age 33, Wealth Over ₹8700 Crores
Razorpay co-founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, both 33 years old, have been listed among the youngest Indian billionaires in the Hurun Rich List 2024. Former students of IIT Roorkee, their estimated net worth today is approximately $1.03 billion or ₹8700 crores. Harshil and Shashank met during their studies at IIT and quickly became close friends. Their startup operates as a payment aggregator.
This third-party service provider simplifies payment receipt for merchants by acting as a medium between customers and businesses. However, only merchants can receive payments, while customers can only make them.
The Idea Began a Decade Ago
Harshil and Shashank's success story began a decade ago, when the online payments sector in India was not in great shape. Razorpay, a fintech startup, was specifically designed to cater to startups. They began this venture in 2014. According to reports, while studying at IIT, Harshil and Shashank were developing a crowdsourcing platform, which led to the realization that startups and MSMEs faced numerous challenges in making online payments. This inspired them to develop a specialized platform, leading to the creation of Razorpay.
Source: aajtak
College Lessons Prove Useful
According to the LinkedIn profile of Razorpay founder Harshil Mathur, online payments in India were not doing well. Observing this, he and his friend Shashank Kumar decided to solve this issue by starting Razorpay, and left their jobs as wireline field engineers to do so. Harshil notes that he is the CEO and co-founder of Razorpay, while Shashank is the co-founder and Managing Director.
Source: aajtak
About their friendship and business, Harshil Mathur shares that he met Shashank during their studies at IIT Roorkee, where their friendship began. Inspired by their shared passion for coding, they worked on several projects together, and many of the codes they wrote during their college days still serve as the backbone of Razorpay's operations today.
How Razorpay Works
This platform simplifies financial transactions. Razorpay introduced an easy-to-use payment gateway for companies and merchants. Through this gateway, online payments can be made using credit cards, debit cards, net banking, UPI, and digital wallets. Razorpay earns through transaction fees, charging a mere 2-3% per transaction. Notably, Razorpay supports several major wallets in India, including JioMoney, Mobikwik, Airtel Money, Freecharge, OlaMoney, and PayZapp.
