25 more billionaires in India's rich list

A rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6 per cent have seen the combined net worth of India’s 100 richest people touch $276 billion, almost a quarter of the country’s GDP, business magazine Forbes said today in its annual rich list for the country.

Last year, there were only 27 billionaires on the India Rich List. This year, the number has almost doubled to 52 — one short of what India had at the peak of the stock market boom in 2007.

At $32 billion (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore), industrialist Mukesh Ambani is the richest Indian, followed by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and Anil Ambani.

Mittal, who lives in London but holds an Indian passport, is ranked second with a net worth of $30 billion, while Mukesh's estranged younger brother Anil comes third with $17.5 billion (see table).

The surge in their wealth, which hit a nadir when the last annual list came out a year ago in the midst of a global economic downturn, has been attributed to a rebound in stock markets in the country as also the "still buoyant economy".

The stock market has appreciated by about two-thirds in the past year and the economy is still growing at a minimum of 6 per cent, thus making the country home to 52 billionaires, Forbes said.

This is nearly double from 27 last November and just shy of a record 54 in 2007, at the peak of stock market boom.

While the top three of the pack have retained their respective positions for the second year in a row, telecom czar Sunil Mittal has slipped from fourth place to eighth and IT veteran Azim Premji has moved up to fourth.

The magazine noted that the nation's richest beat their Chinese counterparts when it came to their fortunes.

India's 100 richest are worth over $100 billion more than the total net worth of $170 billion of their counterparts in China. This is despite China having more billionaires — 79 as against India's 52.

Besides, the richest Indian has a fortune more than five times the $5.8 billion of China's richest citizen Wang Chuanfu.

The richest newcomers are two brothers, Sudhir and Samir Mehta of Torrent Power, who are together ranked 23rd with a net worth of $2.02 billion.