Ritesh Agrawal is a young entrepreneur and businessman, who was born on 16 Nov 1993 in Bassam Cuttack Rayagada Odisha, India. He is a founder and CEO of OYO Rooms.

Family

Ritesh Agarwal was born in a Marwari family in Bissam Cuttack, Odisha, India and brought up in Titilagarh. His family consists of mother, father and three brothers. His father works with Infrastructure Corporation and his mother is a housewife. 

Agarwal gets married to Geetansha Sood.

Education

His schooling was completed from Sacred Heart School in Rayagada. He graduated from St. Johns Senior Secondary School, Kota, Rajasthan and moved to Delhi in 2011 for college. He dropped out of college, and was selected for the Thiel Fellowship (started by Peter Thiel) in 2013.

Ritesh started a budget accommodation portal, Oravel Stays, for booking budget hotels. It was accepted into the accelerator program by Venture Nursery in September 2012, and later was one of the winners of the 2013 Thiel Fellowship program, receiving a grant of $100,000.The company was launched as OYO Rooms in May 2013.

By September 2018, the company raised $1 billion. In July 2019, it was reported that Agarwal purchased $2 billion in shares in the company, tripling his stake.

He is listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Asia.

Honors & Awards

In June 2022, he was recognised by the International Hospitality Institute on the Global 100 in Hospitality, a list featuring the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality.

He was the winner of 2013 Thiel fellowship.

Controversies

An Allegation of cheating by Oyo’s co-founder

Agarwal is accused of cheating Oyo’s co-founder, Manish Sinha, during the early period of the company.

Fine in USA

Agarwal signed agreements through his company OYO with hotel owners in the US in which the buildings of the owners will be rebranded under the OYO name in exchange of compensation and guarantee income but left out the information that OYO is not authorized to operate franchise business in the state of California for which in March 2019, OYO was fined $200,000 by California regulators.

The company also received a cease and desist order from Washington, after regulators found OYO made offers to many hotel owners and managers, without proper registration.

Allegations of fraud

In September 2020, a case was lodged against Agarwal in Dera Bassi by a Chandigarh-based businessman for fraud and conspiracy under IPC 420 (cheating) 120 B (criminal conspiracy).

OYO faced backlash from 10,000 hotel owners in India. According to them, OYO takes up half or more of the revenues through fees that are not disclosed at the time when the hotels join OYO.

According to an October 2019 report, police cases were filed against OYO by hotel operators in Bangalore, Mysore, and other cities of Karnataka accusing Agarwal of fraud. The latter, however, successfully appealed for a stay order on one case in Bangalore.

His net worth in 2020 was estimated to be approximately $1.1 billion (₹8000 crore) according to Hurun Rich List 2020. As of February 2020, he is the youngest self made billionaire in the world. He is listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Asia.

Hospitality and travel-tech firm Oyo’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Ritesh Agarwal’s salary rose to ₹5.6 crore during the financial year ending March 2022, up about a whopping 250% from the total compensation of ₹1.6 crore during the year ended March 2021, as per the latest DRHP.

1. Is Ritesh Agarwal from IIT?
Ans. He couldn’t clear the IIT entrance either, but that didn’t stop him from achieving his dreams.

2. Where is Ritesh Agarwal from?
Ans. Ritesh is from Bassam Cuttack Rayagada Odisha.

3. What is age of Ritesh Agarwal?
Ans. Ritesh Agarwal is 29 years old.

4. What is net worth of Ritesh Agarwal?
Ans. Ritesh Agarwal net worth is $1.1 billion.

5. Is Ritesh Agarwal still a billionaire?
Ans. In July 2019, it was reported that Agarwal purchased $2 billion in shares in the company, tripling his stake.

6. What is the salary of Ritesh Agarwal in OYO?
Ans. Ritesh Agarwal’s salary rose to ₹5.6 crore during the financial year ending March 2022.