Ambani pips Adani to become richest Indian on Hurun list
India added two new billionaires every three weeks in the past year and now boasts of 259 billionaires, which is a 4.4-fold increase in 12 years, says Hurun India Rich List
Mukesh Ambani has become the richest Indian on a list featuring the wealthiest people in the country, pushing Gautam Adani to the second spot.
Ambani, 66, chairman of the diversified Reliance Industries, saw his wealth rise by a marginal 2 per cent to ₹8.08 lakh crore, according to the 360 ONE Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2023.
In contrast, Adani's fortune plummeted by 57 per cent to ₹4.74 lakh crore, mainly due to the Hindenburg report this year, said Anas Rahman Junaid, managing director and chief researcher at Hurun. In January, the US-based short seller had come out with a damning report on the Adani Group, alleging a slew of irregularities which led to a sharp correction in the group stocks and consequent wealth erosion for the promoter family. Adani has denied all the allegations.
A total of 1,319 individuals from 138 Indian cities feature in the list which uses August 30 as the base date to assess fortunes.
Pune-based Cyrus Poonawalla of vaccine maker Serum Institute of India remained third wealthiest Indian, with a 36 per cent jump in the fortune at ₹2.78 lakh crore.
The rich multiply
Shiv Nadar of HCL Technologies also retained his position as the fourth richest with a 23 per cent increase to ₹2.28 lakh crore. A majority of individuals among the top 10 climbed up on the rankings. These included Gopichand Hinduja, now ranked fifth, Dilip Shanghvi (sixth), LN Mittal (seventh), Kumar Mangalam (ninth) and Niraj Bajaj (10th).
At the eighth spot was D-Mart's Radhakishan Damani, who witnessed an 18 per cent decline in his net worth to ₹1.43 lakh crore. Radha Vembu of Zoho has overtaken Falguni Nayar to become the richest self-made Indian woman. Zepto's Kaivalya Vohra is the youngest on the list. At age 94, Mahendra Ratilal Mehta of Precision Wires India company debuted on the list.
Notably, India added two new billionaires every three weeks in the past year and now boasts of 259 billionaires, which is a 4.4-fold increase in 12 years, Hurun said. The list said 51 individuals saw their wealth double this year compared to 24 last year.
Wealthiest cities in India
With 328 individuals, Mumbai tops the India Rich list followed by New Delhi (199) and Bengaluru (100). For the first time, Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu debuted among the top 20 cities producing the maximum number of entrants.
Industry veteran Manish Kejriwal of Kedaara Capital has become the first person from the private equity sector to enter the list of richest Indians with a fortune of ₹3,000 crore.
(With agency inputs)
