Aravind Srinivas, a 31-year-old entrepreneur from Chennai, has become India’s youngest billionaire, with a net worth of ₹21,190 crore, according to the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025. He is the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence-powered conversational search engine that is competing head-on with Google Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Srinivas’ journey highlights India’s growing presence in the global deep-tech ecosystem. An IIT Madras graduate with dual degrees in Electrical Engineering, he went on to complete a PhD in Computer Science at UC Berkeley. His early career stints at OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind gave him the foundation to build Perplexity, which he co-founded in 2022 with Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski.

Perplexity has rapidly gained traction worldwide, backed by investors like Jeff Bezos and even drawing buyout interest from tech giants Apple and Meta. However, Srinivas has firmly stated that the company will remain independent, with plans for an IPO after 2028.

His success places him among a new wave of young Indian billionaires, including the founders of Zepto and BharatPe, reflecting India’s shift from services to global product innovation.

The big question: Can Perplexity sustain its lead in the AI race?