Ananya Birla: The Businesswoman, Musician and Entrepreneur Building a Career Beyond Her Family Legacy

Ananya Birla has built a public identity that extends well beyond her surname. A businesswoman, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur, she has spent the better part of the last decade developing independent careers across music, business and social-impact initiatives.

Born on July 17, 1994, Ananyashree Birla is the eldest daughter of industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and Neerja Birla. While her family background places her among one of India’s best-known business families, Ananya has pursued interests that range from entrepreneurship and international pop music to mental-health advocacy.

Her journey has been unusual in its breadth. She began exploring music as a child, founded a microfinance business as a teenager, studied economics and management, launched an international music career and later expanded into entertainment and social-impact work.

Rather than following a single professional path, Birla has built a career around several interconnected interests.

From learning the santoor to writing her own songs

Music became part of Ananya Birla’s life at an early age.

She began learning the santoor when she was 11, developing an interest in musical expression that eventually expanded into singing, guitar and songwriting.

During her university years, she began performing at pubs, clubs and open-mic events while also writing her own material. The experience gave her an opportunity to develop as a performer away from the expectations associated with her family name.

She later taught herself to play the guitar and continued performing while studying.

In interviews, Birla has described music as something more fundamental than a conventional career choice. “Music is not a career for me. It’s who I am. It’s the most honest part of me,” she has said.

Her early musical influences included artists such as Eminem and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. She has spoken about being drawn to musicians who were able to communicate honestly and create a strong emotional connection with their audiences.

Ananya Birla’s Oxford years shaped her ambitions

Birla attended the American School of Bombay before pursuing higher education in the United Kingdom.

She studied economics and management at the University of Oxford, while continuing to develop her musical interests outside the classroom.

Her university years became an important period of experimentation.

During the day, she focused on her academic programme, while her evenings could involve music and performances. That combination allowed her to explore two very different sides of her personality: the entrepreneur interested in business and the artist looking for creative expression.

It was also during this period that she became increasingly convinced that music would remain an important part of her life.

Building a business career at a young age

Birla entered entrepreneurship unusually early.

She founded Svatantra Microfin Private Limited at the age of 17, entering the microfinance sector while still very young.

The venture became one of the earliest major markers of her business career and demonstrated that her interests extended beyond music.

In 2016, she founded Ikai Asai, a luxury e-commerce platform. The venture reflected her interest in design, premium consumer products and digital commerce.

The same year, Forbes named her among its Asia’s Women to Watch, further increasing her visibility as a young entrepreneur.

Her business career has consequently developed alongside her artistic work rather than replacing it.

Her music career moves onto an international stage

Birla’s professional music career gained wider attention with the release of her debut single, “Livin’ the Life”.

The song was co-written and produced by Jim Beanz, whose previous collaborations included international pop artists. The track was recorded and produced in Philadelphia.

A remix by Dutch DJ Afrojack subsequently gave the song an international release through PM:AM Recordings.

The release marked an important moment in Birla’s development as an artist because it positioned her music within the international electronic and pop landscape.

She followed it with “Meant to Be” in 2017.

The song was later certified Platinum under criteria recognised by the Indian Music Industry, making it a notable milestone for an Indian artist releasing an English-language single.

Performing alongside global music acts

Birla’s career has also included appearances at major music events.

She performed at the Global Citizen Festival and has appeared at events including Sunburn and Oktoberfest. She has also toured with American rapper Wiz Khalifa.

In 2017, she supported Coldplay at the Global Citizen Festival, adding another significant international performance to her growing résumé.

These experiences helped establish her as an artist working within the global pop and electronic music ecosystem rather than limiting her work to the Indian music market.

Fingerprint marked another stage in her music journey

In May 2019, Birla released her debut EP, Fingerprint, through Universal Music Group and Island Records UK.

The EP featured tracks including “Blackout”, which brought together Indian rapper Vector and Nigerian musician WurlD.

The collaboration was notable for its cross-border character, bringing artists from India and Nigeria together on the same track.

Birla continued expanding her international collaborations later that year with “Day Goes By”, featuring Sean Kingston.

Her growing international profile eventually led to her signing with Maverick Management in Los Angeles in 2020.

That year, she released songs including “Let There Be Love” and “Everybody’s Lost”.

‘Hindustani Way’ connected music with Indian sport

One of Birla’s most recognisable projects came in 2021 with “Hindustani Way”.

The song was associated with India’s Olympic campaign for the Tokyo Games and was composed by A.R. Rahman.

The track gave Birla an opportunity to connect her contemporary pop sound with a larger national sporting moment.

It also reflected her continuing effort to work across different musical formats rather than remaining confined to one genre.

Her catalogue includes dance-pop and electronic influences, while her collaborations have introduced elements of hip-hop, contemporary pop and other sounds.

Expanding into acting

Birla later added acting to her list of creative pursuits.

In 2022, she appeared in the song “Inaam”, associated with the streaming series Rudra: The Edge of Darkness.

She subsequently made her full-fledged acting debut with Shlok: The Desi Sherlock, directed by Kunal Kohli.

The move into acting represented another expansion of her artistic career.

For someone who had already worked across music and business, acting provided a different medium through which to explore performance and storytelling.

Mental-health advocacy is another important part of her work

Alongside business and entertainment, Birla has been involved in initiatives focused on mental health.

While studying in England, she became aware of student-support services addressing anxiety and depression. After returning to India, she worked with her mother, Neerja Birla, on mental-health initiatives through MPower.

The organisation has worked to increase awareness around mental health and reduce the stigma surrounding mental-health conditions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, MPower partnered with the Government of Maharashtra and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to launch a 24-hour helpline.

Birla’s work in this area has therefore complemented her commercial and artistic activities, giving her public profile another dimension.

The Ananya Birla Foundation

In 2020, Birla launched the Ananya Birla Foundation.

Its early COVID-19 relief work included support involving menstrual hygiene kits, personal protective equipment and essential supplies for women, hospitals and migrant workers in Maharashtra.

The foundation has subsequently been involved in initiatives connected with mental health, education and youth wellbeing.

In 2024, the foundation collaborated with the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences on a programme intended to strengthen mental-health and career support for students in Delhi.

The initiative included training psychologists in therapeutic approaches, including art-based therapy, and was designed to reach thousands of students.

In 2025, the foundation organised the Mpowering Minds Summit, which focused on youth mental health and the need for stronger mental-health infrastructure and education.

Ananya Birla’s career is defined by multiple identities

What makes Birla’s career distinctive is not simply the number of industries she has entered but the fact that she has continued developing each side of her professional identity.

As an entrepreneur, she has worked in financial services and luxury e-commerce.

As a musician, she has released original songs, an EP and international collaborations.

As an artist, she has explored acting.

Through her foundation and mental-health initiatives, she has also invested time and resources in social-impact work.

The combination means that describing Birla solely as an industrialist’s daughter overlooks much of the professional journey she has created for herself.

A career that continues to evolve

Ananya Birla’s story is ultimately one of diversification.

Her family background gave her access to an unusually prominent business environment, but her professional interests have developed across fields that are not traditionally associated with large-scale corporate leadership.

From learning the santoor as a child to performing internationally, founding businesses at a young age and supporting mental-health initiatives, Birla has consistently pursued multiple interests.

Her career also demonstrates how entrepreneurship and creative work can coexist.

For Birla, music has remained a personal form of expression even as business and social-impact work have expanded her professional responsibilities.

That combination continues to define her public identity: entrepreneur, musician, artist and advocate, with each role representing a different part of a career that has developed far beyond a single industry.