Forbes Rich List: Mukesh Ambani India’s Richie rich for ninth straight year
Flipkart’s co-founders new entrants in the top 100 club
Despite a dip of USD 4.7 billion in one year, industrialist Mukesh Ambani was named the richest Indian for ninth year in a row with a net worth of USD 18.9 billion, while ecommerce giant Flipkart’s founders made their debut on the country’s top 100 rich list of the Forbes magazine.
As per the magazine’s latest list released tonight, Mr Ambani was followed by Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi as second richest with a net worth of USD 18 billion, while Wipro’s Azim Premji retained his third place with USD 15.9 billion.
The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest persons remained largely unchanged at $345 billion, as compared to $346 billion in 2014, Forbes said.
The magazine said the Indian economy was estimated to grow at 7% this year, but the wealth of many of India’s 100 richest have gone down due to decline in the stock markets and depreciation in rupee value over the past one year.
As many as 10 of them saw their net worth dip by over $1 billion each in one year, including Lakshmi Mittal, whose net worth dipped to $4.6 billion (ranked 8th with $11.2 billion). His rank also slipped three places. The list saw as many as 12 newcomers including Flipkart’s founders and low-cost airline IndiGo’s co-founder Rakesh Gangwal who has debuted at 70th position with a net worth of USD 1.6 billion. Mr Gangwal’s partner Rahul Bhatia has moved up 12 positions to 38th with a net worth of USD 2.4 billion.
The biggest gainer was vaccine maker Serum’s Cyrus Poonawalla whose wealth rose from USD 6.2 billion to USD 7.9 million, pushing his rank to the ninth position.
In the top ten, Hinduja brothers were ranked 4th with USD 15.9 billion, followed by Pallonji Mistry at USD 14.7 billion, Shiv Nadar (USD 12. 9 billion), Godrej family (USD 11.4 billion), Lakshmi Mittal (11.2 billion), Cyrus Poonawala (USD 7.9 billion) and Kumar Mangalam Birla (USD 7.8 billion).
