Indian singer turned businesswoman Ananya Birla who is known for her 2016 song ‘Livin The Life’, making her the first Indian artist to attain platinum status for her English-language single. Later on she also 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 as the lead. Apart from singing Birla also tried her luck in acting with spy thriller Shlok: The Desi Sherlock, directed by Kunal Kohli. However, she has now pivoted her career in a totally different path. On Monday, via her Instagram she announced the news of quitting her career as a musician to focus on her business ventures that include a microfinance company and a design house. Let’s check out what she had said.
Ananya Birla said quitting music is the hardest decision she ever had to make
Birla penned on her Instagram addressing her fans, “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).”
Needless to say, this news will definitely have a huge impact on the future of the music industry.
Talking about her business career Ananya is the elder daughter of Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla. Kumar is also the founder of Svatantra Microfin and design house Ikai Asai. She was inducted as a director into a flagship entity of Aditya Birla Group, the Board of Grasim Industries in 2023. In 2012, at the age of 17, Ananya’s business career flourished as she founded Svatantra Microfin Private Limited.
The company is an organisation that strives to give small loans to female entrepreneurs in rural India. Svatantra even 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). Birla is also named one of “Asia’s Women to Watch” by Forbes in 2016.
Moreover, the brand’s success enhanced more in 2024 with expanding over 965 branches across 19 states.
