Acharya Balkrishna breaks into the top 100 in list.
Reliance Industries Ltd. Chairman Mukesh Ambani topped Forbes India’s list of India’s richest persons with a net worth of $22.7 billion.
According to Forbes’ annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons, which was published on Thursday, Ambani’s wealth increased from $18.9 billion last year due to a 21 percent rise in the share value of Reliance Industries. He was named the richest Indian for a ninth year in a row.
Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi ranked second with a net worth of $16.9 million, though his wealth fell by $1.1 billion owing to the decline in the share price of Sun Pharmaceuticals, the world’s fifth-largest generics maker.
The Hinduja Group ranked third with a net worth of $15.2 billion, up from $14.8 billion last year. The four siblings – Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok – control multinational empire Hinduja Group, with businesses ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television, said Forbes India.
Azim Premji, the founder and former chairman of Wipro Technologies, one of the leading IT companies in India, slipped one spot to the fourth position on the list. With a six percent fall in the net earnings of Wipro in last quarter, Premji’s net worth reached $15 billion.
“This year’s list sees a rise in the overall wealth of the country’s top 100 billionaires, in line with the movement of the markets. While the composition at the top of the list remains largely unchanged, the distribution of wealth within the list continues, with the top 20 now contributing 52 percent of the total, down from 55 percent last year,” said Sourav Majumdar, Editor, Forbes India.
The combined net worth of India’s 100 wealthiest reached $381 billion, a rise of 10 percent from $345 billion in 2015. Eight people returned to the list after their companies outperformed the stock market’s 12 percent rise in the past year.
Acharya Balkrishna, the co-founder of fast-growing consumer goods outfit Patanjali Ayurved, made a surprise entry to the list of 100. With a net worth of $2.5 billion, he ranked 48 on the list. His net worth is attributed to the 97 percent shares that he holds in the company.
Though the economic outlook around the world remains gloomy, the outstanding performance of Indian companies makes India the fastest economy in the world.
“In a post-Brexit world, India appears a steady ship with an economy growing at 7 percent-plus. The majority of India’s 100 richest have notched up handsome gains as their companies have outperformed the stock market in the past year. As the domestic investment cycle starts kicking in, we can expect more gains and new names in the future,” said Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia.