Ananya Birla

Ananyashree Birla ( born 17 July 1994) is an Indian singer, songwriter and entrepreneur.

She studied economics and management at the University of Oxford for her bachelor's degree, which she was awarded in 2011.

While at university, Birla started singing and playing the guitar at pubs and clubs.

She also began writing her own music.

Her debut single, "Livin’ the Life", was co-written, and produced, by JimBeanz (who previously collaborated with Nelly Furtado, Cheryl Tweedy and Demi Lovato) and was recorded and produced at a studio in Philadelphia.

Under her leadership, Svatantra won the Gold Award for Best Start-Up (Skoch Financial Inclusion and Deepening Awards, 2014), Spirituality @ Work: Sach Bharat Samman (Sach Bharat Confluence 2015) and has maintained a quality loan portfolio, offering one of the lowest interest rates in the country.

Since her debut single in 2016, Birla has reached more than 350 million combined streams and collaborated with artists including Sean Kingston, Afrojack, and Mood Melodies.

Birla is the first Indian artist with an English-language single to go platinum in India; five of her singles have achieved platinum or double platinum status.

Birla has received awards for her work and entrepreneurship, including the ET Panache Trendsetters of 2016 award for Young Business Person and was listed as one of GQs Most Influential Indians of 2018.

In 2016, Birla became the founder and CEO of Ikai Asai, an inventory-based global luxury e-Commerce platform.

The same year, Forbes named her one of Asia's Women to Watch.

In March 2024, Ananya Birla's microfinance company Svatantra entered into a definitive agreement for an investment of ₹1,930 crore with private equity investors Advent International and Multiples.

The investment follows Svatantra’s recent acquisition of Chaitanya India Fin Credit Limited for ₹1,479 crore in August 2023.

A remix by Dutch DJ Afrojack of "Livin’ the Life" makes Birla the first Indian artiste to get a worldwide release through PM:AM Recordings and hit over 14 million views on YouTube as of June 2017.

She released her next single "Meant to be" in July 2017 which was subsequently certified Platinum as per the Indian Music Industry (IMI) recognised criteria for certifications.

This makes Birla the first Indian artiste with an English single to go platinum.

In January 2017, she supported Coldplay at the Global Citizen Festival.

She released her single "Hold On" on 1 March 2018.

On 7 June 2018, she released her fourth single "Circles".

Her songs have been topping the music charts in 2019.

On 17 January 2019, she released her 5th single and 1st song of 2019 "Better", which was viewed 4 million times on YouTube within 2 days of its release.

She released her debut EP Fingerprint in May 2019, via UMG and Island Records UK.

It included "Blackout" featuring Vector and Wurld, which was one of the first collaborations between major artists from India and Nigeria.

In September 2019, Birla released ‘Day Goes By’ with Sean Kingston, who she met when they toured in India together.

The song marked one of the first major pop collaborations between a US and Indian artist.

The video has been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube.

In 2020, Birla became the first Indian to sign with Maverick Management in Los Angeles and released “Let There Be Love” and “Everybody's Lost” becoming the first Indian artiste to be featured on American national top 40 pop radio show, Sirius XM Hits.

Birla is the founder of Svatantra Microfin, a company that provides microfinance to women in rural India.

She is also the founder of Ikai Asai and cofounder of Mpower.

In 2020, she launched the Ananya Birla Foundation to support: mental health, equality, education, financial inclusion, climate change and humanitarian relief efforts.

She is the daughter of Kumar Mangalam Birla, an Indian industrialist and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group and sister to Indian cricketer Aryaman Birla (see Birla family)

Ananyashree Birla developed an interest in music at an early age, learning to play the santoor at the age of eleven.

She attended American School of Bombay.

In 2020 she signed with Maverick Management in Los Angeles.

Later that year, she released “Let There Be Love” and “Everybody's Lost” becoming the first Indian artiste to be featured on an American national top 40 pop radio show, ''Sirius XM Hits.

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She has performed at some of the biggest music events in Asia including Global Citizen, Oktoberfest, and Sunburn, Asia's biggest electronic music festival, and has toured with Wiz Khalifa.

Birla's "Hindustani Way" is the official CHEER SONG for the Indian Olympic at the 2021 Olympics, composed by A. R. Rahman.

Birla founded Svatantra Microfin Private Limited at the age of 17.

The organisation makes small loans to women entrepreneurs based in rural India.