Mukesh Ambani Remains Richest Indian, Net Worth Jumps 30%: Report
Beijing: Industrialist Mukesh Ambani remains India's richest person with a sharp surge of 30 per cent in his net worth to $26 billion (Rs 1.78 lakh crore at $1 = Rs 68.56), pushing his global rank to 21st on a worldwide rich list topped by Bill Gates.
The total number of billionaires from India has risen to 111, consolidating the country's third position after China and the US, according to Hurun Global Rich List 2016, a ranking of the US dollar billionaires currently found in the world.
Bill Gates retained the top spot with a fortune of $80 billion. "Gates has become the first person alive to have created a $100 billion fortune, having given away more than $20 billion to date," the report said.
In the overall list, Mr Gates was followed by Warren Buffett, with a net worth of $68 billion, and Amancio Ortega ($64 billion). Jeff Bezos ($50 billion) and Carlos Slim Helu ($53 billion) made it to the top five billionaires in the world.
The number of the world's billionaires grew by 99 to 2,188, which is a new world record and 50 per cent more than 2013.
Meanwhile, India consolidated its position at the third place with its 111 billionaires, 14 more than last year.
"The combined wealth of the Indian billionaires shot up by 16 per cent to $308 billion and the average age was 64," the report added.
Besides Mr Ambani, the Indians who got featured in the coveted list included Dilip Shanghvi, ranked 46th with a net worth of $18 billion (Rs 1.23 lakh crore), Pallonji Mistry (69th; $13 billion or Rs 89,128 crore), Shiv Nadar (78th; $12 billion or Rs 82,272 crore), Cyrus S Poonawalla (149th; $8.1 billion or Rs 55,534 crore), Uday Kotak (152nd; $8 billion or Rs 54,848 crore) and Azim Premji (155th; $7.7 billion or Rs 52,791 crore).
Sector-wise, manufacturing, pharma and tech were the sectors that minted most number of billionaires with 22, 20 and 15 super-rich people, respectively.
In terms of cities, Mumbai was home to most of the Indian billionaires.
Wealth calculations are a snapshot of January 15, 2016.
