Adani tops Forbes India’s 100 richest list, Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar among new entrants
Even as the world economy slows down, the rich in India continue to grow richer. According to the Forbes 2022 list of India’s 100 richest, their combined wealth grew by $25 billion to touch a colossal $800 billion. The top 10 richest Indians are worth a cumulative $385 billion.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani has bagged the top spot on the list with a net worth of $150 billion. According to Forbes, the gain was largely due to a record-breaking feat by infrastructure tycoon, which changed the pecking order at the top for the first time since 2008.
Adani is also the biggest gainer this year in both percentage and dollar terms, Adani announced he would be investing $100 billion over the next decade, 70 percent of it in green energy.
The Forbes list also has several new names. They include Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar and Rekha Jhunjhunwala. Savitri Jindal is the only woman billionaire in the Forbes top 10 list.
India’s top 10 richest
Gautam Adani: Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani has bagged the top spot on the list with a net worth of a whopping $150 billion (Rs 1,211,460.11 crore). India’s richest person, Adani is also the third richest billionaire globally.
Mukesh Ambani: Following Adani on the list is Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth of $88 billion or Rs 710,723.26 crore, down 5 percent from last year. Between the top 2 richest Indians, Adani and Ambani now account for 30 per cent of the total wealth of India’s 100 richest.
Radhakishan Damani: The country’s retailing king, Radhakishan Damani, who owns the DMart chain of supermarkets, is the third richest India with a fortune of $27.6 billion (Rs 222,908.66 crore). He broke into the top three for the first time though his net worth declined by 6 per cent.
Also read: Gautam Adani is now world’s 2nd richest; has net worth of $154.7 bn
Cyrus Poonawalla: Another year of bumper profits from Covid-19 vaccines have made Chairman of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing company’s Serum Institute of India’s Cyrus Poonawalla country’s 4th richest man. He has a net worth of $21.5 billion or Rs 173,642.62 crore.
Shiv Nadar: Worth $21.4 billion or Rs 172,834.97 crore, Shiv Nadar, Chairman Emeritus of HCL Technologies, donated $662 million to education-related causes this year and witnessed the largest drop in net worth in absolute terms.
Savitri Jindal: India’s richest woman and the Chairperson Emeritus of O.P. Jindal Group, Savitri Jindal is the only woman billionaire in the Forbes top 10 list. Her net worth is $16.4 billion or Rs 132,452.97 crore.
Dilip Shanghvi: Sun Pharmaceuticals’ founder’s son Dilip Sanghvi is worth $15.5 billion or 125,184.21 crore. He is the central board member of the Reserve Bank of India.
Hinduja Brothers: Worth $15.2 billion or Rs 122,761.29 crore, Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok Hinduja control the Hinduja Group started by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja in 1914.
Kumar Birla: The chairman of the textiles-to-cement conglomerate Aditya Birla Group has net worth $15 billion or Rs 121,146.01 crore. Birla inherited the group at the age of 28 when his father, Aditya Birla, died in 1995.
Bajaj Family: The family owns a network of 40 companies under the Bajaj Group and is worth $14.6 billion or Rs 117,915.45 crore. The 96-year-old family-led business was started by Jamnalal Bajaj in Mumbai in 1926.
Also read: Adani group to invest $150 billion in pursuit of $1 trillion valuation
The new entrants:
Falguni Nayar: With a net worth of $4.8 billion, as per the Forbes data, Nayar is on the 44th spot in the list. An IIM Ahmedabad graduate, ahe had founded Nykaa in 2012 “with the vision of building a multi-brand omnichannel beauty-focused retail business”. She has built a “beauty and lifestyle retail empire with a portfolio of 1500+ brands, including its own private label, available online and across 68 stores in India. Nykaa’s revenue exceeded Rs 1200 crore in revenue in FY19 and is on track to exceed Rs. 2000 crores in FY20.”
Rekha Jhunjhunwala: The wife of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who is fondly remembered as India’s very own Warren Buffet. At the 30th spot, Rekha Jhunjhunwala, 59, has replaced her husband on the list. She has a net worth of $5.9 billion. Known as the big bull of the Indian share market, Rakesh died of cardiac arrest on August 14 at the age of 62. The Jhunjhunwala portfolio includes Titan, Star Health and Allied Insurance and Metro Brands.
Nehal Vakil: The representative of the third generation of the Vakil family that is running Asian Paints, which was founded in 1942. The family’s total worth is $.52 billion.
Venu Srinivasan: The founder of the TVS group, one of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in the world, is also a new entrant on the list this year. He is also the recipient of Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in the country.
Ravi Modi: The owner of Vedant Fashions, named after his only son. The manufacturer of Indian ethnic wear — known for the Manyawar brand — went public in 2022. His total worth is about $3.6 billion.
Nirmal Minda: The Chairman and MD of UNO Minda (formerly Minda Industries), has the net worth of $2600 crore.
Rafique Malik: Having listed Metro Brands last December, Rafique Malik figures on No. 89 with $2.22 billion. The privately held company is known for its brands such as Mochi, Metro and Walkway. Farah Malik Bhanji, the second of his five daughters, runs the company as managing director. Malik listed the company in December 2021.
The returnees
Among the four returnees on the list is Anand Mahindra with a net worth of $2.2 billion or Rs 17,768.08 crore. Bhadresh Shah (Rs 15,345.16 crore), Anu Aga (Rs 18,010.37 crore) and Joy Alukkas (Rs 25,036.84 crore) are also among the returnees on the rich list.
Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma was a notable name among the drop-offs, who saw shares of his One97 Communications tank amid the global tech rout. The cutoff for the top 100 was $1.9 billion this year.
