Premji World'S 4th Richest

Azim Premji has become the fourth richest person in the world, with a personal networth of $25.7 billion.

Going by Forbes' 1999 ranking of the 10 richest businessmen, Premji is preceded only by Bill Gates with an estimated networth of $ 90 billion, Warren Buffett with $36 billion and Paul Allen with $30 billion.

Premji's personal wealth is based on his 75 per cent stake in Wipro. His net worth has risen a whopping 133 per cent to Rs 1,11,721 crore in just over a month. To put this in perspective, he now accounts for one-tenth of the BSE's total market capitalisation, which is over Rs 11,00,000 crore.

 

The Wipro scrip hit the circuit-filter to close at Rs 6,500.40 yesterday.

The sharp rise in Wipro's market price is attributed to its excellent third-quarter performance and its thrust on new areas like Net-related technologies and telecom software. The tieup with global software major Microsoft has also fuelled investor sentiment.

Premji isn't the only one enjoying good fortune. The market rally over the past month has helped members of the BS Billionaires Club add to their already substantial kitty.

Subhash Chandra, the second richest Indian, has seen his networth rise 17.1 per cent to Rs 41,676 crore. Shiv Nadar, Rajendra Pawar and Vijay Thadani are together at third place, with a networth of Rs 33,976 crore. This represents a rise of 197 per cent, largely due to the listing of HCL Technologies on January 11.

N R Narayana Murthy and associates have seen their networth rise 37 per cent to Rs 10,908 crore (at a paid-up share value of Rs 5 up). Dhirubhai Ambani and family are at fifth position with a networth of Rs 15, 852 crore, a rise of 19.9 per cent.