Bill Gates regains world's richest title

Gates, whose fortune rose $9 bn in a year to $76 bn, has held the top spot for 15 of the past 20 years

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has regained the title of the world's richest on the Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list that includes 56 India-based billionaires led by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

Gates is at the top after four years, reclaiming the title from Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who had ranked number one for four years.

Gates, whose fortune rose $9 billion in a year to $76 billion, has held the top spot for 15 of the past 20 years.

Forbes said, "After years focused on his philanthropy, Gates plans to spend more of his time working with product managers as rivals like Google and Apple continue to outshine the company in the market."

With a net worth of $18.6 billion, Mukesh Ambani leads the 56 billionaires based in India.

Younger brother Anil is ranked 281st, with a net worth of $5 billion.

However, Forbes said the richest Indian had seen a "precipitous decline" in his fortune since 2008 when his net worth was $43 billion and when he was the world's fifth richest.

"Regardless he remains India's richest and is still bullish; says he plans to invest $25 billion in his businesses over two years," Forbes said. The other Indian billionaires were ArcelorMittal Chairman and Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal, 52nd, with a net worth of $16.7 billion; Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, 61st, with $15.3 billion; Sun Pharma founder Dilip Shanghvi, 82nd, with $12.8 billion; HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar, 102nd, $11.1 billion.

Hinduja brothers came in at 122nd with $10 billion.

Birla group chief Kumar Birla is 191st and has a net worth of $7 billion. Forbes said the ranks of the world's billionaires continued to scale new heights and stretched to new corners of the world.

The list has 1,645 billionaires with an aggregate net worth of $6.4 trillion, up from $5.4 trillion a year ago. The list features a record 268 new ten-figure fortunes, including 42 new women billionaires.

In total, there are 172 women on the list, more than ever before and up from 138 last year. The year's biggest dollar gainer was Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune jumped USD 15.2 billion, to USD 28.5 billion, as shares of his social network soared.