30 Sep : RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes magazine’s list of the 100 richest Indians for the third year in-a-row, pipping billionaires like L N Mittal and Azim Premji with a net worth of USD 27 billion.
As per the Forbes research study, the combined net worth of India’s 100 richest people rose to USD 300 billion this year from USD 276 billion last year, driven by the country’s booming economy and a rally in the stock market.
According to the Forbes India Rich List, there are 69 billionaires this year, compared to 52 last year.
Ambani was followed by the steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, who retained his second position in the list with a net worth of USD 26.1 billion.
However, the wealth of both of these billionaires is believed to have slipped by 15 percent from the previous amount.
Mukesh’s younger sibling Anil Ambani lost the third spot on the list to IT major Wipro and fell to sixth rank.
Premji’s wealth has increased to USD 17.6 billion from USD 14.9 billion last year, taking him to the third spot from the fourth place last year.
Fourth on the list was Essar Energy brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia with a net worth of USD 15 billion, bolstered by the company’s IPO in London, which raised USD 1.85 billion.
Five women features on Forbes India Rich List
As many as five women have made it to Forbes India magazine’s list of the 100 richest Indians this year, including O P Jindal Group chairperson Savitri Jindal, who surpassed billionaire Anil Ambani to attain fifth position in the list.
Jindal was the richest lady in India for the fourth consecutive year, with a net worth of USD 14.4 billion, says the annual India Rich List compiled by business magazine Forbes.
While ADAG Chairman Ambani slipped from third position last year to sixth in the list this year, with a wealth of USD 13.3 billion, Jindal has moved up from the seventh slot to the fifth this time.
Apart from Jindal, Bennett, Coleman & Co Chairperson Indu Jain, Anu Aga of Thermax group, Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Shobhana Bhartia of Hindustan Times are the other women that found a place in the list.
Jindal, who has been the chairperson of the O P Jindal Group since her husband Om Prakash’s demise in 2005, saw her wealth growing by USD 2.4 billion since November, 2009, when Forbes had last published its annual India rich list.
Among the women billionaires, Jindal is followed by Bennett, Coleman & Co Chairperson Indu Jain, who is ranked 21st, with a net worth of USD 3 billion. Jain continues to see her fortune grow, with her kitty rising by USD 600 million this year in comparison to the previous year.
Anu Aga of Thermax group bagged 51st position in the list with a net worth of USD 1.24 billion. She worked for the company from 1985, taking charge when her husband died in 1996.
Shaw and Bhartia have been ranked 75th and 76th in the list, with a net worth of USD 900 million and USD 895 million, respectively.
Notably, Vidya Murkumbi of Shree Renuka Sugars, who had featured at the 93rd spot in the list last year with a net worth of USD 490 million, did not find a place this year.
The following is the Forbes list of the 25 richest people in India:
Rank Name Net Worth (in $ bln)
1 Mukesh Ambani 27
2 Lakshmi Mittal 26.1
3 Azim Premji 17.6
4 Shashi & Ravi Ruia 15
5 Savitri Jindal 14.4
6 Anil Ambani 13.3
7 Gautam Adani 10.7
8 Kushal Pal Singh 9.2
9 Sunil Mittal 8.6
10 Kumar Birla 8.5
11 Adi Godrej 7.5
12 Pallonji Mistry 6.9
13 Anil Agarwal 5.5
14 Dilip Shanghvi 5.2
15 Shiv Nadar 4.7
16 Malvinder & Shivinder Singh 4.2
17 Kalanithi Maran 4
18 G M Rao 3.5
19 Uday Kotak 3.4
20 Anand Burman 3.2
21 Indu Jain 3.1
22 Rahul Bajaj 3
23 Subhash Chandra 2.9
24 Micky Jagtiani 2.8
25 Venugopal Dhoot 2.65