Two business magnates from India, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar have been featured on the Forbes list of 100 richest tech billionaires in the world. The list also includes three Indian American technology businessmen.
Azim Premji and Shiv Nadar have been included in the top 20 list with 13 and 17 ranks respectively. While Premji has a net worth of $16 billion, Nadar holds about $11.6 billion assets.
The &1-year-old Azim Premji’s “$7.7 billion (revenues) Wipro, India’s third-largest outsourcer, reported a 10% fall in net earnings to $304 million in a recent quarter amid sluggish sales. To boost growth, Wipro has been on a buying spree in the past year,” Forbes said.
“It most recently acquired HealthPlan Services, an insurance technology firm based in Florida, for $460 million. But it called off the $130 million purchase of New Jersey-based Viteos Group citing delays in completion of the deal. Premji’s son Rishad, who heads strategy and sits on the board, also oversees Wipro’s $100 million venture capital fund,” Forbes added.
While Premji maintained his rank from last year’s list, Nadar lost three positions from 2015 list of the richest in technology.
“Indian tech pioneer Shiv Nadar, co-founder of HCL Group, gets the bulk of his wealth from $6.4 billion (revenues) software outfit HCL Technologies. The company, which is reportedly mulling a U.S. listing, signed a deal with Swedish auto group Volvo in February to provide software services and also acquire its IT outsourcing arm for $130 million,” Forbes said.
Nadar also owns HCL TalentCare, a skills-development firm that provides training to new graduates. His latest venture is a $500 million fund to invest in startups and U.S. healthcare tech firms.
Indian American Romesh T. Wadhwani, Founder, and Chairman, Symphony Technology Group, has been ranked 67 with a net worth of $3 billion. Founders of IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel, Bharat Desai and his wife Neerja Sethi, have been positioned 85 with a real time net worth of $2.6 billion.
The tycoons on the list hold a combined net worth of $892 billion, 6% more than a year ago. The minimum net worth is now $2.2 billion, up from $2 billion a year ago. Fifty-three of the top 100 added to their fortunes, while 27 got poorer.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the richest tech billionaire and the richest person in the world with a $78 billion fortune, according to Forbes. With an estimated $66.2 billion fortune Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has been ranked second. He overtook Oracle chairman Larry Ellison to become the second richest person on the list.
Larry Ellison went down to the fourth position when Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg climbed to the third position with a net worth of $54 billion.
America tops the list with 51 tech billionaires followed by China (19), Canada (5), and Germany (4).