Premji, Nadar in top 20 in Forbes' tech billionaires list

Technology tycoons - Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar - ranked in the top 20 in the Forbes list of 100 richest tech billionaires.

According to the "100 Richest Tech Billionaires In The World 2016" list, Premji ranked 13th with a net worth of $16 billion while Nadar was at the 17th spot with $11.6 billion of net worth.

Premji and Nadar are placed ahead of Google chief Eric Schmidt and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

India has more tech billionaires than Brazil, Russia, Singapore and the UK. The Indian number equals tech billionaires in Israel, Taiwan and Australia.

Thirtythree are from Asia, with China on top with 19 members. The US topped the global list with 51 members, followed by China.

According to the list, 51 American tech founders and investors account for nearly two-thirds of the group's total wealth.

The titans have, approximately, worth a combined $892 billion, 6 percent more than a year ago. The minimum net worth is now $2.2 billion, up from $2 billion a year ago, Forbes said.

With a $78 billion estimated fortune, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is again the richest billionaire in tech, followed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ($66.2 billion). Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is ranked third.

Compared to last year, 53 of the top 100 became richer while 27 got poorer.

There were 12 newcomers. The top five billionaires collectively added $36.9 billion to their fortunes over the past year, accounting for two-thirds of all gains.

Two Indian-American technology tycoons - Symphony Technology Group CEO Romesh Wadhwani and founders of IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel Bharat Desai and his wife Neerja Sethi - secured their spot in the list.

--IANS

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