Shifting sands: Billionaires' wealth loses weight vs expanding GDP

India's billionaire promoters lose ground as equity market weakness and rupee depreciation drag wealth growth below the pace of the country's fast-expanding GDP

After strong gains between 2014 and 2021, India’s billionaire promoters are now seeing a decline in their combined wealth as a per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). 

The combined net worth of these billionaire promoters, measured in dollar terms, fell 5 per cent in the calendar year 2025, compared with 7.5 per cent growth in India’s nominal GDP in dollar terms in FY25. As a result, their combined net worth as a per cent of the country’s GDP declined to 25.2 per cent in CY25 from 28.5 per cent a year earlier, marking the lowest level in three years. 

The aggregate net worth of the country’s 176 dollar billionaires dropped to $984.2 billion during 2025, down from a record $1,036.2 billion at the end of December 2024. The billionaire club itself contracted, falling to 176 from 204. 

The decline in both the number of billionaire promoters and their wealth is attributed to weakness in the broader equity market, underperformance of family-owned companies, and a nearly 5.7 per cent depreciation of the rupee against the greenback in 2025. The combined market capitalisation of 1,461 listed companies in the Business Standard sample rose 4.2 per cent year-on-year in 2025, while the combined market cap of family-owned firms increased just 3 per cent.

 

India’s economy, by contrast, continues to expand. Nominal GDP rose to $3,909.9 billion in 2024-25 from $3,638.5 billion in 2023-24, using the rupee average exchange rate for the corresponding financial year published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The rupee averaged 84.5756 per dollar in FY25, down from 82.7897 in FY24. In local currency terms, GDP grew 9.8 per cent to ₹330.7 trillion from ₹301.2 trillion.

 

Over the past four years, billionaires’ net worth has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8 per cent, rising from $756.8 billion at the end of 2021 to $984.2 billion at the close of 2025. By comparison, India’s nominal GDP in dollar terms expanded at a CAGR of around 10 per cent, from $2,674.9 billion in 2020-21 to $3,909.9 billion in 2024-25.

 

The number of dollar billionaire promoters increased at a CAGR of 5.5 per cent over four years, from 142 at the end of 2021 to 176 at the end of last year.

 

This contrasts sharply with the 2014–2021 period, when both the billionaire cohort and their wealth expanded rapidly, despite relatively modest GDP growth. During those years, combined billionaire net worth rose at a CAGR of 23.6 per cent, from $171.3 billion to $756.8 billion, while the number of promoters more than trebled from 42 to 142. By comparison, India’s nominal GDP in USD terms grew at a CAGR of 5.2 per cent, from $1,876.8 billion in 2013-14 to $2,674.9 billion in 2020-21.

 

Weakness in the equity market and contraction in the billionaire club have mirrored a slowdown in corporate revenues and profits, despite robust GDP growth. Combined net sales (or gross interest income in the case of banks and lenders) of 1,493 companies across sectors rose 5.9 per cent year-on-year in FY25, while combined net profit increased just 1.94 per cent. Nominal GDP, in contrast, grew 9.8 per cent.

 

Consequently, the ratio of corporate net sales to GDP fell to 40.7 per cent in 2024-25 from 42.2 per cent a year ago, the lowest in four years. Corporate profits relative to GDP also declined, to 3 per cent from 3.2 per cent, after a decade-high 3.25 per cent in 2021-22.