With a net worth of $22.7 billion, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped the annual Forbes’ list of richest Indians for the ninth straight time. The industrialist was leaps ahead of the second ranked Dilip Shangvi, who was quoted to be worth $16.9 billion.
The interesting pick of the lot has to be Acharya Balkrishna, holder of 97% stake in Patanjali Ayurveda. With a net worth of $2.5 billion, he debuted in the list at the 48th spot. Also notably, Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have fallen out of the list after their company was devalued from $15 billion last year to $9 billion this year.
The top five of the list was rounded up by the Hinduja Family moving up to third position with $15.2 billion, Azim Premji slipping one place with a net worth of $15 billion and Pallonji Mistry with $13.9 billion in fifth.
Forbes India says the list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and India’s regulatory agencies. The ranking lists family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as the Godrej and Bajaj families. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 9. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.
The gateway to enter the top 100 wealthy Indian list has hit a record $1.25 billion this time around, says the magazine. Last year, the cut off was at $1.1 billion. The rise in the ‘entry price’, as the magazine calls is it, is indication of the rising wealth of the wealthy.
The top 10 richest Indians –
1. Mukesh Ambani ($22.7 Billion)
2. Dilip Shanghvi ($16.9 Billion)
3. Hinduja brothers ($15.2 Billion)
4. Azim Premji ($15 Billion)
5. Pallonji Mistry ($13.9 billion)
6. Lakshmi Mittal ($12.5 billion)
7. Godrej family ($12.4 billion)
8. Shiv Nadar ($11.4 billion)
9. Kumar Birla ($8.8 billion)
10. Cyrus Poonawalla ($8.6 billion)
