The rise of Abhishek Verma: How the man became India’s youngest billionaire in his late twenties

A lot of people pursue the dream of getting super rich at a young age. However, there are only a few like billionaire Abhishek Verma who put in the right amount of efforts and achieve this rare feat. The fact that Verma was just 28 years of age when he made this achievement.

Abhishek Verma was born on 23 February 1968 in New Delhi to a family of politicians. Shrikant Verma, his father, was a well-known journalist of his time. He later joined the Indian National Congress, upon the insistence of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was later made a Member of Parliament in 1976, and later, the General Secretary of Congress Party.

Veena Verma, Abhishek Verma’s mother, has also been an active politician. She served as a Member of Parliament for 14 years, and was later appointed as the Vice President of Indian National Congress. She has also served as the Chief of the Mahila Congress.

A Hindu College graduate, Abhishek Verma pursued higher studies from Georgetown University, Washington DC. Later, he started working as the Editor-Publisher of a monthly magazine for Non-Resident Indians, named India Worldwide in the US.

Upon moving back to India, Indian National Congress was keen to nominate him to contest the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. However, Abhishek Verma turned down the proposal, as he was in the process of setting up a mega business venture of his own.

Abhishek Verma chose to travel the road less taken, and forayed into the defence sector as a weapons contractor and arms manufacturing company. While his venture brought him great success, his excellent entrepreneurial skills earned him the nickname ‘Lord of War’ in the international defence and armament sector within a few years.

In 1997, when Abhishek Verma was in his late twenties, he was named the youngest billionaire of India by renowned magazine India Today in its cover story of November 1997 issue.

Later, he forayed into telecommunications industry with his venture Atlas Interactive India Private Limited. He went on to sign an agreement with the Centre to run the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) as the Chairman of Atlas Interactive and also entered into a funding arrangement with Chinese public sector ZTE Corporation and signed a US$ 1.4 billion funding agreement in 2005 during the visit of the Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao to India.

In 2006, his wedding with former Miss Universe Romania, Anca Neacsu, once again brought the attention of the Indian and the International media towards him. Since their wedding, Anca has been a pillar of strength to him.

The husband-wife duo has achieved great success while working together.
By 2011, billionaire Abhishek Verma had assumed the role of Chief Evangelist of a multinational FMCG brand, Olialia World. Six years later, in 2017, the ace entrepreneur acquired the contract for owning and constructing Maldives International Airport. The airport, with an investment of $500 million, would be known as Olialia International Airport for a span of 50 years. Olialia World has also proposed a US$ 2 billion development in the Northern Atolls of Maldives which would be called ‘Olialia New Maldives’.

In spite of being a hard-working person, Abhishek Verma has always been controversy’s favourite child. His high-profile status and business rivalries earned him his own share of controversies. Corruption and Money Laundering charges were foisted against him by his political rivals, due to which he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate along with his wife in 2012.

However, the couple stood strong during the test of time, and was exonerated by the court in three cases after 4 long years of onerous court trials in April 2017.

There’s another aspect of Abhishek Verma which remains unknown to most people. He has supervised several civic initiatives in India. Installation of electric wells for the underprivileged, establishing medical clinics and starting mid-day meal schemes for children are some of the drives sponsored by him.

Money doesn’t make a person rich; it is the relationships that he fosters with the people around him that add up to his wealth. Abhishek Verma’s story is an inspiration to us all. His journey so far tells us to be persistent while chasing our dreams, without worrying about anything else.

Olialia World is a Lithuanian multinational corporation with US$ 5 billion in valuations. It is a FMCG company with interests in hospitality, aviation, infrastructure, financial services and tourism.

Olialia World is owned by India's Verma Family scion Billionaire Industrialist and Philanthropist Abhishek Verma and his wife Anca Verma Supermodel and former Miss Universe Romania.

Olialia World
60, Palm Road
Bhawani Kunj
New Delhi 110070
India

This release was published on openPR.