India loses 11 billionaires after note ban, Mukesh Ambani still richest: Hurun report

While the number of billionaires in India fell after demonetisation, the aggregate total wealth of the ultra rich increased by 16 per cent over last year, says Hurun rich list report

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, is the richest Indian billionaire with a fortune of Rs175,400 crore ($26 billion), according to the Hurun Global Rich List India.

Ambani topped the list of 132 individuals in India while globally he is at rank 28.

Chairman of Hinduja group S.P.Hinduja & family (global rank: 74) with a net worth of Rs101,000 crore ($14 billion), is at number 2 followed by Dilip Shanghvi (global rank: 74), founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals. Shangvi has dropped to the third position because of a 22% decline in his wealth of Rs99,000 crore ($14 billion), fueled by an 18% drop in shares of Sun Pharma.

Indian construction tycoon Pallonji Mistry (global rank: 97) is in the fourth position. Mistry is the largest individual shareholder in Tata Sons Ltd. He is worth Rs82,700 crore ($12 billion). Lakshmi N. Mittal (global rank: 97) chairman of Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steel maker by output, ranks fifth with Rs81,800 crore ($12 billion).

Industrialist cum philanthropist Shiv Nadar, (global rank: 97) is at number 6 with a net worth of Rs81,200 crore ($12 billion), followed by Cyrus S. Poonawalla (global rank: 106), also known as the vaccine billionaire, who has a personal fortune of Rs75,400 crore ($11billion).

Wipro’s Azim Premji (global rank: 134) is the 8th richest Indian with wealth of Rs66,300 crore ($9.7billion), a 26% increase from last year, followed by Uday Kotak (global rank: 134). Incidentally, Kotak is the only individual from the banking sector in the list.

India-born Rueben brothers—David and Simon, share the 10th position with a fortune of Rs45,600 crore ($6.7 billion) with a rise of 29% in their wealth from last year. The Rueben brothers are majority owners of Global Switch and their Reuben Foundation focuses on healthcare and educational causes.

Two new entrants to the list are Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm and Directi’s Divyank Turakhia, who also happens to the be the youngest Indian billionaire, worth $1.2 billion.

The report says that since demonetisation, India has lost 11 billionaires. E-commerce poster boys Sachin and Binny Bansal are no longer part of the billionaires list.

With 132 individuals from the Hurun India Global List 2017, Mumbai is the capital for India’s super rich with 42 billionaires, followed by Delhi (21) and Ahmedabad (9).

China based research firm Hurun’s Global Rich List for 2016 ranked 2,188 billionaires from 68 countries, adding 99 to last year’s list. Their total wealth increased by 9% to $7.3 trillion, which is more than the combined gross domestic product of Germany and the UK and close to half that of the US, said the report.