'Hardest decision', says Ananya Birla as she quits music for business

Ananya Birla is the founder of microfinance company Svatantra Microfin and design house Ikai Asai; she is the elder daughter of Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla

Ananya Birla, on Monday, announced that she is quitting as a musician to focus on her business ventures that include a microfinance company and a design house.

Writing on social media platform Instagram, Ananya Birla said, "Guys, this has been the hardest decision. I've reached a stage where balancing both the businesses I run and am building and music is becoming near impossible and it's taking a toll on me in ways that I can't express. Thank you for all the love for the music I've released over the years. I hope one day we can appreciate English music made by our own people as there is so much talent in our own country. Thank you again. It's time I focus all my energy on the business world (sic)."

Music career

In 2016, she released ‘Livin The Life’, making her the first Indian artist to attain platinum status for her English-language single. She appeared on the American pop radio show Sirius XM Hits.

Ananya Birla made her OTT debut on Disney+ Hotstar in 2022 where she sang "Inaam", featured in the web series Rudra: The Edge of Darkness, starring Ajay Devgn. In 2023, she marked her acting debut with spy thriller Shlok: The Desi Sherlock, directed by Kunal Kohli. 

Business career

Ananya Birla, the elder daughter of Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, is the founder of Svatantra Microfin and design house Ikai Asai. In 2023, she was inducted as a director into the Board of Grasim Industries, a flagship entity of Aditya Birla Group.

In 2012, at the age of 17, Ananya Birla founded Svatantra Microfin Private Limited, an organisation dedicated to providing small loans to female entrepreneurs in rural India. Svatantra won the Gold Award for Best Start-Up (Skoch Financial Inclusion and Deepening Awards, 2014) and the Spirituality@Work: Sach Bharat Samman (Sach Bharat Confluence 2015).

As of March 2024, the company has over 965 branches across 19 states. In March 2024, Svatantra finalised a substantial investment of Rs 1,930 crore from private equity firms Advent International and Multiples. This investment follows Svatantra’s acquisition of Chaitanya India Fin Credit Limited for Rs 1,479 crore in August 2023.

In 2016, she became the founder and chief executive officer of Ikai Asai, a global luxury e-commerce platform with inventory-based operations. That same year, Forbes named her as one of "Asia's Women to Watch".