Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes annual list of 100 richest Indian businessmen for the tenth year in a row. With a staggering $38 billion or Rs 2.5 lakh crore in personal wealth, Ambani rules the roost as the richest Indian businessman for a decade, a feat no other Indian resident businessman has achieved so far.
According to Forbes, Ambani whose Reliance Industries (RIL) holds sway over India's energy sector, added to his personal wealth a staggering $15.3 billion or Rs 99,671 crore in the last year alone.
His wealth saw a phenomenal rise of 67 per cent from $22.7 billion last year to $38 billion this year "making him the biggest dollar gainer on the list and one of Asia’s top five richest," Forbes said.
Earlier this year, Amabni briefly dethroned Microsoft founder Bill Gates as world's richest person with stocks of Reliance Industries zooming at the bourses. The launch of RIL's telecom arm Reliance Jio in October last year has also helped the shares of RIL.
The total value of India's 100 richest has gone up to a mind-boggling $479 billion, that is an increase of 26 per cent from earlier $374 billion in 2016, the report added.
Ranked second on the list, tech tycoon Azim Premji is another big gainer jumping two places, with his net worth rising by $4 billion to $19 billion this year. The gain is partly due to increased revenue and profit at his privately held consumer-goods business Wipro Enterprises.
The Hinduja brothers (No. 3, $18.4 billion) added $3.2 billion to their net worth.
On the other hand, a total of 12 listees are poorer than a year ago, with half of them from the pharmaceutical sector, which has been plagued by challenges.
Pharmaceutical magnate Dilip Shanghvi (No. 9, $12.1 billion) is the biggest dollar loser on the list as his net worth fell by $4.8 billion, ending his three-year run as India’s second-richest. The Gupta family (No. 40, $3.45 billion), heirs of patriarch Desh Bandhu Gupta, who died in June, saw their fortune shrink as shares of their generics maker Lupin declined.
The 100 wealthiest on this year’s list are all billionaires. The minimum amount required to make the list was $1.25 billion last year, 17 percent lower than this year, Forbes said.
Over four-fifths of those who retained their position on the list from last year saw their wealth rise, with 27 listees adding $1 billion or more to their net worths. These include Kumar Birla (No. 8, $12.6 billion) of Aditya Birla Group and auto parts tycoon Vivek Chaand Sehgal (No. 23, $5.85 billion).
The richest newcomer is cookies-and-airline tycoon Nusli Wadia (No. 25, $5.6 billion).
Vijay Shekhar Sharma (No. 99, $1.47 billion) of fast-rising mobile wallet Paytm, is among the five new entrants to this list.
