The sudden demise of industrialist Sunjay Kapur at the age of 53 has sent shockwaves across the business community and Bollywood alike. The London-based Indian tycoon, known for his high-profile marriage to actor Karisma Kapoor from 2003 to 2016, passed away on Thursday after suffering a heart attack during a polo match.
While Kapur’s personal life often made headlines due to his celebrity associations, he was, above all, a self-made billionaire who quietly built an auto components empire that outpaced the fortunes of many Bollywood stars.
Net Worth Surpassing Bollywood’s Elite
According to Forbes, Sunjay Kapur had an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion (₹10,300 crore) at the time of his death. At his peak in 2022 and 2024, his wealth was valued at $1.6 billion (₹13,000 crore).
This made him richer than Shah Rukh Khan, India’s wealthiest film actor, whose net worth stands at approximately $880 million (₹7,700 crore). In comparison, the entire extended Kapoor family, to which Karisma belongs, reportedly has a collective net worth of just ₹2,000 crore — less than one-fifth of Kapur’s fortune. Karisma Kapoor herself is estimated to be worth ₹120 crore.
Sona Comstar: The Empire He Built
Sunjay Kapur was the Chairman of Sona Comstar, an auto components giant founded in 1997 by his late father Surinder Kapur, a pioneering figure in India’s automotive sector. The company’s name traces back to the family’s original jewellery business, launched by Sunjay’s grandfather.
After his father’s death in 2015, Sunjay took over as managing director and spearheaded the company’s aggressive international expansion into China, Mexico, Serbia, and the U.S. Under his leadership, Sona Comstar flourished, achieving a market capitalization of ₹31,000 crore (nearly $4 billion), according to Bloomberg.
Personal Life and Legacy
Sunjay Kapur’s personal life was often in the public eye. He was married to Karisma Kapoor for over a decade, and the couple has two children. Before that, he was briefly married to fashion designer Nandita Mahtani from 1996 to 2000.
In 2017, Kapur married Priya Sachdev, a model-turned-actor, with whom he had a son. Despite his celebrity-linked personal life, those who knew him describe him as a visionary businessman who transformed a family enterprise into a global powerhouse.
