It has emerged that Rishi Sunak's wife was a director of a failed upmarket fitness studio company set up by a Richmond couple.

Akshata Murthy held a stake in Digme, which went bust with reported debts of some £15.1million, and was also a director, which meant she had a role in running the business.

Digme was placed in administration on February 16 with its failure attributed to the 'Covid-19 lockdowns and cash-flow shortages' by liquidators.

It has been reported that the company received between £310,000 and £635,000 in staff furlough payments from the taxpayer between December 2020 and September last year.

At the same time, when the company went bust, it owed over £400,000 to the taxman.

At its height, the company ran eight fitness studios, including one in Richmond, which is still operating following what has been described as a restructure.

Akshata Murphy held a 4per cent stake in the company and will have lost an investment that was, at one time, valued at £400,000.

However, this appears to be just a small fraction of her personal wealth. She reportedly received dividends of over £11m in the past year on shares she owns in her billionaire father's IT company Infosys.

The Chancellor's wife's finances and tax affairs are at the centre of controversy after it emerged she pays some £30,000 a year to be registered as a non-domicile in the UK – despite having three homes in this country. This status, which is entirely legal, allows her to avoid paying tax on overseas earnings in Britain.

Updated insolvency records show that Digme Fitness was £15.1m in the red when it went under with unsecured creditors left £3,237,538 out of pocket.

Local authorities, cleaners and utility firms are among those owed money, as are legal firms. HMRC was owed £415,000 for unpaid VAT and PAYE/NI, and employees were owed £31,886 in notice and redundancy pay.

Against the debts, liquidators identified - so far – just £68,425 in assets to pay towards the bills.

Some £50,001 of this came from a sale of assets to a company co-managed by Digme founder Caoimhe Bamber, who has relaunched the business, including continuing to operate its studio in Richmond.

Caoimhe Bamber, a former City lawyer, and mother of two, set up Digme in 2015 with husband Geoff. The couple live in Richmond, where they set up their first studio in June 2016.

She is dedicated runner, having completed a number of marathons, half-marathons and ultra-marathons. She also enjoyed a spell in triathlon and has a full Ironman race to her name.

Geoff, quit the hedge fund world a few months before Digme's first studio opened to take on the role of CEO. He is an entrepreneur who studied for a business MBA at Stanford University in California, where the Chancellor's wife was also a student.

The Bambers met at a gym class and he has completed 11 Ironman races. He also represented GB at youth level in downhill skiing and was a keen rugby player.

A third director, Andrew Johnson, who is the chief financial officer, lives in Twickenham.

Digme continues to run its fitness studio in Spencer House opposite Waitrose in the centre of Richmond. The Freehold for the building went on sale earlier this year for over £19m.

In a recent statement, the couple said they are going through a 'restructuring process in order to bring down overheads'.

They added: "Contrary to recent press speculation, the company has not 'collapsed' – we successfully concluded the restructuring of the business in February 2022 and are now in the process of rebuilding our business and community after a challenging two years since first locking down in March 2020.

"All four of our studios – Moorgate, Richmond, Bank and Covent Garden – are open, operating as normal and will continue to do so.

"Indeed, we are adding additional classes to our timetables every week as demand returns following the pandemic.

"Notwithstanding all of the difficulties we have been through as a result of the pandemic, we and the team are completely united in the belief that the best times are ahead for Digme.

"We have an incredible team, exciting and differentiated products, four wonderful studios and a new and brilliant digital platform in Digme at Home.

"Tough times are sent to test us but we have survived and we are very excited for the future."