For the eleventh consecutive year, India’s Reliance Industries Chairman Mukhesh Ambani has appeared as the richest among the Indians with a net worth of $47.3 billion, according to the rich list released by the Forbes magazine on Thursday (4).
Ambani is also the year's biggest gainer, who added $9.3bn to his wealth amid the continuing success of his Reliance Jio broadband telecommunication service in India.
“Despite a rout in the rupee that practically wiped out the Indian stock market’s 14 per cent rise from a year ago, tycoons on the 2018 Forbes India Rich List saw a modest gain in their combined wealth to $492bn. Among the nation’s 100 richest, 11 saw their wealth jump by $1bn or more,” the Forbes said in a release.
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji has bagged the second position in the list, his wealth rising from $2bn to $21bn.
ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal bagged the third position in the list with $18.3bn. He added $1.8bn to his net worth and moved up single step followed by the Hinduja brothers who are placed at the fourth position with a net worth of $18bn. Pallonji Mistry, stood at fifth position in the list with a fortune of $15.7bn.
Mistry is followed by Shiv Nadar in the sixth position with a net worth of $14.6bn followed by Godrej family ($14bn), Dilip Shanghvi ($12.6bn), Kumar Birla ($12.5bn), and Gautam Adani ($11.9bn).
India’s top 100 richest are all billionaires. The minimum sum required to make the list is $1.48bn, up from $1.46bn of 2017.
Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia, said, “In a challenging year, which saw the rupee taking a tumble, the country's 100 richest collectively managed to hold their own. Moreover, new billionaires continue to be minted, which indicates that India’s entrepreneurial energy is upbeat as ever.”
The highest per cent gainer of the current year is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw who stays at the 39th position, one of only four women on the list. Her net worth rose 66.7 per cent to $3.6bn.
Piyush Goyal with shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (centre), Vikram Doraiswami and other officials at the India Global Forum
And , Goyal with Jonathan Reynolds