New York, Oct 25: Mukesh Ambani has retained his position as the world's richest Indian for the fifth year in a row, although his networth declined by USD 1.6 billion to USD 21 billion but remained well above that of the second-ranked Lakshmi Mittal.
Steel baron Mittal's networth also fell by USD 3 billion at USD 16 billion, making him the second richest, as per global business magazine Forbes' annual ranking of 100 wealthiest Indians, released today.
Ambani, who heads energy-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries group, and Mittal were followed by IT czar Azim Premji (USD 12.2 billion), construction major and Tata group's major shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji group patriarch Pallonji Mistry (USD 9.8 billion) and drugmaker Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi (USD 9.2 billion) in the top-five.
Mukesh's younger brother Anil Ambani, who heads telecom-to-infrastructure conglomerate Reliance Group, was ranked 11th with a networth of USD 6 billion.
Others in top-10 ranking include Adi Godrej at 6th position (USD 9 billion), followed by Savitri Jindal (USD 8.2 billion), Shashi & Ravi Ruia (USD 8.1 billion), Hinduja Brothers (USD 8 billion) and Kumar Mangalam Birla (USD 7.8 billion).
Even as the networth of top-ranked persons like Ambani and Mittal fell, the collective wealth of India's richest 100 rose by 3.7 per cent (USD 9 billion) to USD 250 billion in the past one year, Forbes said.
The number of billionaires also rose to 61, from 57 last year. Sun Pharma group's Shanghvi entered the top-five for the first time.
