India Shining! Billionaire count hits 100

Singapore: For the first time, the 100 richest tycoons in India are all billionaires with Mukesh Ambani topping the league for the eighth consecutive year, according to Forbes. With a net worth of $23.6 billion, up $2.6 billion from 2013, Reliance Industries Limited chief Mukesh Ambani topped the list for the eighth consecutive year.Mr Ambani was followed by Dr Dilip Shanghvi, who got richer this year by $4.1 billion. Dr Shanghvi is the new No. 2, after he displaced steel baron Lakshmi Mittal ($15.8 billion), who slipped to the fifth place.

Wipro’s Azim Premji moved up one notch to the number three position as his net wealth increased to $16.4 billion from $13.8 billion previously.Pallonji Mistry, patriarch of construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group which is the biggest shareholder in Tata Sons with a new worth of $15.9 billion, was placed in the fourth place.

Forbes said that “good days are here” for the India’s 100 Richest, as the top 100 richest Indians are all billionaires with combined wealth of $346 billion, up more than a third from $259 billion in 2013.

Propelled by the euphoria after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide victory in May, the stock market has gained 28 per cent since January, driving the net-worth of the uber-rich people in India.

The biggest dollar gainer is ports magnate Gautam Adani, who jumped 11 spots to 11th rank in the list, adding nearly $4.5 billion to his wealth which reached $7.1 billion on soaring share prices.

Others in the top 10 include NRI businessmen Hinduja Brothers who were at the sixth position with a net worth of $13.3 billion, followed by Shiv Nadar (7th, $12.5 billion), Godrej family (8th, $11.6 billion), Kumar Birla (9th, $9.2 billion) and Sunil Mittal & family (10th, $7.8 billion).

As many as 85 of the 89 who returned to the top 100 from last year are wealthier, and several are billionaires for the first time. Among them are Qimat Rai Gupta (ranked 48, net worth $1.95 billion), Chairman of Havells; V G Siddhartha (75, $1.27 billion), founder of the Cafe Coffee Day chain; and brothers Harsh Goenka (82, $1.18 billion) and Sanjiv Goenka (69, $1.4 billion), who run their own empires.