Mukesh Ambani tops the list for the eighth consecutive year with a net worth of $23.6 billion, up $2.6 billion from last year. Dilip Shanghvi, founder of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, India’s most valuable drug maker, is the new No. 2, overtaking steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, who slips to fifth place. Sun Pharmaceutical’s shares surged after it acquired rival Ranbaxy Laboratories from Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo for $4 billion in April. The 59-year old Shanghvi saw his fortune rise by $4.1 billion to $18 billion.
Moving up one notch to No. 3 is Azim Premji, whose net wealth increased to $16.4 billion from $13.8 billion previously. In July, his tech firm Wipro set up a $100 million venture capital fund to back startups led by his son Rishad.
The biggest dollar gainer is ports magnate Gautam Adani, who jumped 11 spots to No. 11 adding nearly $4.5 billion to his wealth which reached $7.1 billion on soaring shares of his companies. Adani has been on a buying spree: he bought a port in eastern India from the Tata Group for $900 million and agreed to pay $1 billion for a power plant in southern India.
As many as 85 of the 89 who returned to the top 100 from last year are wealthier, and several are billionaires for the first time. Among them are Qimat Rai Gupta (No. 48, $1.95 billion), chairman of Havells, the world’s fourth-largest lighting company; V.G. Siddhartha (No. 75, $1.27 billion), founder of the Café Coffee Day chain, India’s Starbucks; and brothers Sanjiv (No. 69, $1.4 billion) and Harsh Goenka (No. 82, $1.18 billion), who runs RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and RPG Group respectively.
Sourav Majumdar, Editor, Forbes India, added: “With the stock market on a bull run and renewed optimism in the air, this year’s list is an all-billionaires list. The good news is the distribution of wealth among the 100 continues to be broad-based, and is not just concentrated at the top of the heap. The power of Indian enterprise continues to grow stronger, despite the odds.”
There are eight newcomers on this year’s list: Amalgamations Group family (No. 47, $2 billion) comprise the families of the four children of the late founder S. Anantharamakrishnan; brothers Dilip & Anand Surana (No. 73, $1.3 billion), who run Bangalore pharma outfit Micro Labs; Hasmukh Chudgar (No. 80, $1.2 billion), founder of Intas Pharmaceuticals; real estate tycoon Surendra Hiranandani (No. 83, $1.17 billion); jeweler T.S. Kalyanaraman (No. 87, $1.13 billion); Macleod Pharmaceuticals’ Rajendra Agarwal (No. 90, $1.1 billion); Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare’s Azad Moopen (No. 95, $1.05 billion); and stock market veteran Radhakishan Damani (No. 100, $1 billion).
The biggest loser this year is Indus Gas founder Ajay Kalsi (No. 85, $1.15 billion), who lost $1 billion after the government stalled an increase in the nation’s natural gas prices.
The minimum amount required to make the list was $1 billion, up from $635 million in 2013. With a record minimum net worth this year, 11 from last year fell off, including tycoons Brij Bhushan Singal and Vijay Mallya.
The top 10 richest in India are;- pic.twitter.com/0WRQACYCk5
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) September 25, 2014
Moving up one notch to No. 3 is Azim Premji, whose net wealth increased to $16.4 billion from $13.8 billion previously. In July, his tech firm Wipro set up a $100 million venture capital fund to back startups led by his son Rishad.
The biggest dollar gainer is ports magnate Gautam Adani, who jumped 11 spots to No. 11 adding nearly $4.5 billion to his wealth which reached $7.1 billion on soaring shares of his companies. Adani has been on a buying spree: he bought a port in eastern India from the Tata Group for $900 million and agreed to pay $1 billion for a power plant in southern India.
As many as 85 of the 89 who returned to the top 100 from last year are wealthier, and several are billionaires for the first time. Among them are Qimat Rai Gupta (No. 48, $1.95 billion), chairman of Havells, the world’s fourth-largest lighting company; V.G. Siddhartha (No. 75, $1.27 billion), founder of the Café Coffee Day chain, India’s Starbucks; and brothers Sanjiv (No. 69, $1.4 billion) and Harsh Goenka (No. 82, $1.18 billion), who runs RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and RPG Group respectively.
Sourav Majumdar, Editor, Forbes India, added: “With the stock market on a bull run and renewed optimism in the air, this year’s list is an all-billionaires list. The good news is the distribution of wealth among the 100 continues to be broad-based, and is not just concentrated at the top of the heap. The power of Indian enterprise continues to grow stronger, despite the odds.”
There are eight newcomers on this year’s list: Amalgamations Group family (No. 47, $2 billion) comprise the families of the four children of the late founder S. Anantharamakrishnan; brothers Dilip & Anand Surana (No. 73, $1.3 billion), who run Bangalore pharma outfit Micro Labs; Hasmukh Chudgar (No. 80, $1.2 billion), founder of Intas Pharmaceuticals; real estate tycoon Surendra Hiranandani (No. 83, $1.17 billion); jeweler T.S. Kalyanaraman (No. 87, $1.13 billion); Macleod Pharmaceuticals’ Rajendra Agarwal (No. 90, $1.1 billion); Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare’s Azad Moopen (No. 95, $1.05 billion); and stock market veteran Radhakishan Damani (No. 100, $1 billion).
The biggest loser this year is Indus Gas founder Ajay Kalsi (No. 85, $1.15 billion), who lost $1 billion after the government stalled an increase in the nation’s natural gas prices.
The minimum amount required to make the list was $1 billion, up from $635 million in 2013. With a record minimum net worth this year, 11 from last year fell off, including tycoons Brij Bhushan Singal and Vijay Mallya.
