Notes Ban Hits Super Rich, 11 Lose Billionaire Status: Report
Mukesh Ambani remains richest Indian with a net worth of $26 billion The country now has 132 billionaires with net worth of $1 billion or more Cumulative wealth of the ultra-rich people stood at $392 billion
New Delhi: India's super rich club has shrunk by 11 people since the government's demonetisation move last November, while Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani remains the richest Indian with a net worth of $26 billion (around Rs 1.7 lakh crore at $1 = Rs 66.67), according to a report by Chinese magazine Hurun.
The country now has 132 billionaires with a net worth of $1 billion or more and the cumulative wealth of the ultra-rich people stood at $392 billion, according to Hurun Global Rich List India.
Though there has been a fall in number of billionaires in the country since demonetisation, the aggregate total wealth of the ultra-rich people has increased by 16 per cent over last year, the report said.
In the list of top 10 richest people, Mr Ambani was followed by S P Hinduja and family at the second position with a net worth of $14 billion, and Dilip Shanghvi at the third position with a wealth of $14 billion.
Others in the top 10 billionaires include Pallonji Mistry at the fourth place with $12 billion, Lakshmi N Mittal
(at the fifth position with $12 billion), Shiv Nadar (6th, $12 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla (7th, $11 billion), Azim Premji (8th, $9.7 billion), Uday Kotak (9th, $7.2 billion) and David Reuben and Simon Reuben at the 10th place with $6.7 billion.
According to the report, India lost 11 billionaires since demonetisation on November 8.
"India had a tough year because of disruptive government policies such as demonetisation drive. However, on a long-term perspective, we do believe that such transparent currency economics will have a positive impact for the entrepreneurs," Hurun Report India managing director and chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid said.
Among cities, Mumbai is the capital for India's super rich as the city is home to 42 billionaires, followed by Delhi (21) and Ahmedabad (9).
In terms of billionaire spread state-wise, Maharashtra topped the list with 51 billionaires, followed by Delhi (22), Gujarat (10) and Karnataka (9).
Almost a third of the list has been replaced with 27 new additions and 31 dropouts vis-a-vis last year.
E-commerce entrepreneurs Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal dropped out of the Global Billionaires list, while Acharya Balakrishna of Patanjali was the wealthiest new face at the 29th position with a net worth of $3.7 billion.
Kiran-Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon is the only self-made woman billionaire with a wealth of $1.9 billion, the report added.
Regarding billionaire outflow, the report said that 32 individuals migrated from India and the UAE was the most preferred destination with 13 immigrants.
