New Delhi: India has gone up 27 places to replace Russia at No 3 in the Hurun Global Rich List for 2015, a ranking of the dollar billionaires across the world.
India has 97 billionaires, 27 more than last year. Their combined wealth adds up to $266 billion,
Wealth of 60 percent of Russian billionaires declined in the face of the stagnating economy, devalued Ruble and plummeting global oil prices. Russia is home to 93 billionaires, having lost 10 ultra-rich in the course of the ongoing economic turmoil.
The report said, “Manufacturing, pharma and TMT (technology, media and telecom) are the preferred sectors with 23, 14 and 12 billionaires respectively.”
The US and China account for half of the world's billionaires. Meanwhile it is the first time that India has broken into the top three, the Hurun report said
Mukesh Ambani (worth $20 billion and ranked 41 on the Hurun billionaire list) retains his rank as the richest Indian.
For the fourth year, the Hurun Global Rich List ranked 2,089 billionaires, up 222 from last year, from 68 countries in a record-breaking year for the world's billionaires.
Bill Gates, Carlos Slim and Warren Buffett, the first three on the Global Rich list, saw their wealth surge $52 billion (or $100,000 a minute!) over the past year to a combined record total of $244 billion.
In all, Hurun counted 2,089 of the world's richest people to publish its annual list of dollar billionaires for 2015.
