| The Richest Indians | ||
|
The Ambanis now are - they've displaced Azim Premji, thanks to the resurgence of old economy stock prices. The Ambanis are the BS Billionaires of the year BS
Research Bureau Before you let out that long sigh, however, there's one little consolation for all you underachievers - try as they might, the combined net worth of members of the Billionaire Club went up by a modest 11.1 per cent in the past eight months, from Rs 1,08,960 crore on December 31,2002. They have done better than earnings from the savings bank. Be that as it may, this time it's the turn of the old economy chieftains to claim priority in the pecking order. The Ambani brothers - Mukesh and Anil - occupy the top slot, having displaced tech stalwart Azim Premji. That's not so much because the Ambanis worked harder than Premji but because, unfortunately for Premji, the stock market started a new love affair with the old economy, casting aside its lady love of yesteryear, the information technology (IT) sector. Through group flagship Reliance Industries, the net worth of the Ambanis stood at - hold your breath - Rs 23,588 crore, up nicely by Rs 4,724 crore, thanks to a 25.4 per cent increase in the price of the Reliance Industries stock. That's a respectable rate of return, though some of you could easily claim to have made more on your investments. In sharp contrast to the solid performance of the Ambanis, Premji emerged poorer by Rs 12,448 crore last year. That's a pretty poor show, considering that nobody among the rest of us has managed to lose such a large sum. But with Wipro's market price declining by 40 per cent since last December, there's little that Premji could have done. No wonder then that mutual funds advise people to diversify. Premji's steep decline in wealth practically handed the top slot in the Billionaire Club to the Ambanis by default, but in spite of losing so much he continued to remain comfortably placed in second position, with a net worth of Rs 18,964 crore. Malvinder and Shivender Singh of Ranbaxy Laboratories, although third in the list, are far behind with their wealth totalling a mere Rs 5,086 crore. Premji will still be ahead even if he lost another Rs 13,500 crore. But Messrs Malvinder and Shivinder are trying their best to bridge the gap, and their efforts are attested to by their net worth rising by Rs 1,741 crore as Ranbaxy's market valuation soared 52 per cent. And why not, since, during the six months ended June 2003, the company's net profit more than doubled. Sunil Mittal, however, has been moving up fast, coming from seventh position to the fourth rank this year, and his wealth adds up to Rs 5,000 crore. He increased his net worth by a solid Rs 2,945 crore as Bharati Tele-Ventures showed a sharp turnaround in the last couple of quarters, and the stock's price rose by 143 per cent after the fourth quarter results. That's despite stiff competition in the sector. Way to go, Mittal. We'll quickly run you through the rest of the field. They are far more closely bunched together. Shiv Nadar, in spite of allowing the Ranbaxy brothers and Mittal to edge past him, managed to keep the technology flag flying in fifth place, with a net worth of Rs 4,299 crore. Zee Telefilm's Subhash Chandra is one of those Mittal overtook, and there's now a considerable distance between him and Mittal, with Chandra's net worth put at Rs 2,566 crore. Dilip Shanghvi, promoter of Sun Pharmaceuticals, moved up three places to the 6th rank, with a net value of Rs 3,027 crore, salting away an additional Rs 1,249 crore in his piggy bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals. Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla group, ranks No 7, with a net worth of Rs 2,737 crore. The Birla billionaire added Rs 1,139 crore to his net worth, thanks to an appreciation of 102 per cent in the price of the Grasim stock, while the Hindalco scrip was up 56 per cent on account of rising aluminium prices. At least, that's what the analysts say - we know it's because of Birla's Midas touch. Dr Anji Reddy used his knowledge of alchemy at Dr Reddy's Laboratories to rake in the doubloons, remaining at No 10 with a net worth of Rs 2,132 crore, while Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma, strangely enough, created the same effect using detergents, coming in at No 9 with a net value of Rs 2,169 crore. After the prizes for the top ranks, it's also eminently fair to praise those who may not have come first, but who, by dint of their hard work, have improved their positions. Deshbandhu Gupta of Lupin Laboratories (ranked 23), P V Ramaprasad Reddy of Aurobindo Pharmacuticals (ranked 34), Sanjay Lalbhai of Arvind Mills (ranked 45), Shashi and Ravi Ruia of Essar Steel (ranked 37), Anu Aga of Thermax (ranked 51) and the Sheth family of G E Shipping, the chairman being K M Seth, (ranked 60) may all please come to the front of the class - they have moved up in ranking by 15-20 notches each. A big hand for them, please. While mentioning improvement, we must also not forget those unfortunates at the bottom rungs of the Billionaire Club who have diligently tried to move to better positions in the class. We are talking here about the Rajan Raheja group, whose net value more than doubled to Rs 393 crore from Rs 147 crore last year. True,
critics will say that Rs 393 crore is hardly worth mentioning, but
we strongly feel there should be no class divisions in this exclusive
club. We, therefore, proudly point out that this quantum jump in net
worth placed the Raheja group at No 50, up from No 88 last year. The aggregate
net worth of the 125 billionaires rose by a solid Rs 11,991 crore
or so since December 2002, nothing to write home about. B Ramalinga Raju slipped to the 19th position from 8th last year as his net worth declined from Rs 1,934 crore to Rs 1,333 crore. Sudha Gopalkrishnan, one of the promoters of Infosys Technologies, ranked 18th last year, dropped to 28th this year. In fact, all the promoter-members of Infosys Technologies - Nandan Nilekani, Sudha Murthy, Akshata Murthy, S Gopalakrishnan - slipped in billionaire rankings as the share price of Infosys Technologies declined 21.5 per cent since December. (N R Narayana Murthy does not figure here because data on his holding in Infosys are not available.) We've asked the IT billionaires to be more careful with their money. In spite of the IT members giving the Billionaire Club a reputation for losing money, the fact of the matter is that 100 billionaires out of the 125 increased their wealth by Rs 27,447 crore to Rs 87,365 crore. If you do the complicated maths involved, you will find that's a rate of return of 48.8 per cent in eight months. Please forget the snide remarks about savings bank deposits, you know now why these people are billionaires. It's the other 25 whose wealth depreciated by Rs 15,456 crore toRs 33,586 crore who give the club a bad name. Incidentally, one of the rules of the Billionaire Club is that the winner takes all. That's proved by the top 10 billionaires having two-thirds of the wealth of the entire club. The Ambani brothers had 19.50 per cent, while Azim Premji had a 15.7 per cent share. Sharing is not a trait the club encourages. Before we end, just in case all this talk of making billions has made you a wee bit jealous, console yourself with the following thoughts. The biggest decline in net worth this year was seen by Azim Premji, who lost over Rs 12,448 crore; B Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computer has been the second biggest loser, wiping out Rs 600 crore from his net worth; Shiv Nadar lost Rs 277 crore while the net worth of Cipla's Y K Hamied depreciated by Rs 30 crore. You did
better than that.
|
||
|
Previous Issue
Back >>
Business
Standard |
