NR Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law Rishi Sunak to man Boris Johnson’s treasury

BENGALURU: Rishi Sunak, who is the son-in-law of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, has been appointed as the chief secretary to the treasury in British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new cabinet.
The 39-year old Sunak, who is a philosophy, politics and economics graduate from Oxford University and an MBA from Stanford University, is a conservative party MP from Richmond (Yorkshire). He favours Britain leaving the European Union, popularly known as Brexit. Murthy wished him well in his role and expected him to be honest and do good for society.

“Our advice to our children, including Rishi, has been to work hard, be honest, and do good for society,” Murthy said.

“We wish him well.” Murthy’s wife and Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty wrote to her son-in-law congratulating him for becoming a minister.

“God has given Rishi the opportunity to help the poor and needy of his country. We are sure he will work hard. We are proud of him,” Murty told ET.


Sunak earlier served in the Theresa May cabinet as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government. An advocate of improving local communities, Sunak has emphasised the use of technology and innovative business models to improve citizen service to local communities.

“Technology is something I am passionate about. It has the potential to be transformative,” Sunak told the British Parliament during a debate, where he pointed that an innovation fund was launched to embrace digital revolution in local communities and help deliver services better to people.

Born in UK, Sunak’s mother was a pharmacist while his father worked in the National Health Service (NHS) as a general practitioner. He met Narayana Murthy’s daughter Akshata Murty in Stanford, where he was doing his MBA.

Sunak then set up a £1 billion global investment firm and specialised in investing in small British businesses before his entry to the British Parliament in the 2015 general election. The couple has two daughters – Krishna and Anoushka. Sunak is among the three Indian origin ministers along with Priti Patel and Alok Sharma to join Johnson’s cabinet.