From left: Mukesh Ambani, Shiv Nadar and Gautam Adani. (Image: Express archieves)India has the third-highest number of billionaires in the world after the US and China, according to recent data released by Forbes magazine. With 140 billionaires in 2021, India has gone past Germany (having 136 billionaires) to claim the third spot in countries with the most billionaires 2021, Forbes said.
India’s top three richest people have added over $100 billion between them, the report said.
Mukesh Ambani
Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani ranks at the top among the Indian billionaires with a net worth of $84.5 billion. He ranks 10th globally and has reclaimed his spot as Asia’s richest person, dethroning Alibaba founder Jack Ma from China who was the richest person in the region a year ago.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Ambani had accomplished a record fund-raising feat, garnering $35 billion through a series of deals to achieve the target of reducing RIL’s net debt to zero by the financial year 2020-21. He sold a third of RIL’s telecom arm Jio Platforms to global tech investors such as Facebook and Google and also sold 10 per cent of RIL’s retail arm Reliance Retail to private equity firms KKR and General Atlantic. He also concluded a $7.3 billion rights issue of RIL shares.
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Gautam Adani
Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani is the second richest Indian with a net worth of $50.5 billion. He is ranked 24th on the global list of billionaires. His company acquired a 74 per cent stake in India’s second-busiest airport Mumbai International Airport in September. Adani also sold a 20 per cent stake in Adani Green Energy to French energy firm Total for $2.5 billion.
Shiv Nadar
HCL founder Shiv Nadar is ranked third among the richest person in India. He has a net worth of $23.5 billion and on the global list, he is ranked 71st. In July last year, he had stepped down as chairman of IT giant HCL Technologies and handed over the reins to his daughter Roshni Nadar Malhotra.
Radhakishan Damani
Avenue Supermart founder Radhakishan Damani comes fourth in the list of Indian billionaires with a net worth of $16.5 billion. He is ranked 117th on the global list of billionaires. Avenue Supermart runs the popular retail store DMart across various cities in the country. Damani is also a veteran investor in the Indian stock market. He holds stakes in a range of companies, from tobacco firm VST industries to cement producer India Cements.
Uday Kotak
Uday Kotak is the country’s richest banker. He is the founder and leader of Kotak Mahindra Bank, a major private sector bank in India. He has a net worth of $15.9 billion and ranks 121st globally. In June last year, Kotak had sold shares worth $950 million to reduce his stake in his bank to 26 per cent as mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Here are the top 20 richest billionaires in India:
| Rank | Global ranking | Name | Net worth (in $ billion) |
| 1 | 10 | Mukesh Ambani | 84.5 |
| 2 | 24 | Gautam Adani & family | 50.5 |
| 3 | 71 | Shiv Nadar | 23.5 |
| 4 | 117 | Radhakishan Damani | 16.5 |
| 5 | 121 | Uday Kotak | 15.9 |
| 6 | 140 | Pallonji Mistry | 14.6 |
| 7 | 168 | Kumar Birla | 12.8 |
| 8 | 169 | Cyrus Poonawalla | 12.7 |
| 9 | 203 | Dilip Shanghvi | 10.9 |
| 10 | 213 | Sunil Mittal & family | 10.5 |
| 11 | 234 | Savitri Jindal & family | 9.7 |
| 12 | 274 | Benu Gopal Bangur | 8.7 |
| 13 | 288 | Azim Premji | 8.6 |
| 14 | 294 | Kuldip Singh & Gurbachan Singh Dhingra | 8.4 |
| 15 | 297 | Kushal Pal Singh | 8.3 |
| 16 | 369 | Bajaj brothers | 7 |
| 17 | 384 | Murali Divi & family | 6.8 |
| 18 | 404 | Gopikishan Damani | 6.5 |
| 19 | 421 | Rahul Bajaj | 6.3 |
| 20 | 421 | Ashwin Dani & family | 6.3 |
| Source: Forbes’ 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List 2021 | |||
Every year, Forbes releases a list of the billionaires which covers the wealthiest businesspersons across the world.
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