Revision as of 10:25, 28 December 2020

Hurun’s Top 10

Top performing sectors

December 25, 2020: The Times of India

In spite of the challenges faced by the industry due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the combined wealth of India's richest people grew twice as fast as net market capitalisation of all Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed companies in the year 2020, revealed a report by Hurun India.

The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020 shows that India's richest people possess a cumulative wealth of $823 billion, which is about one-third of its GDP (gross domestic product). It is also more than the combined GDP of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bhutan.

Here’s a look at some of the top wealth creators of the country in the year 2020:

1 Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani topped the list for the 9th consecutive year by registering a whopping 73 per cent rise in his wealth to Rs 6,58,400 crore.

Ambani gained Rs 90 crore per hour since the lockdown was imposed by the government in March.

Just after the lockdown was announced, Ambani’s wealth dropped by 28 per cent to Rs 3,50,000 crore. However, a series of fund-raising activities and strategic investments from global giants like Facebook and Google increased his wealth by 84 per cent over the next four months.

Ambani is also the only Indian billionaire to feature in top 15 of the global rich list 2020 prepared by Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

According to Anas Rahman Junaid, managing director and chief researcher of Hurun India, Ambani's wealth is bigger than the combined wealth of the next five people in the list, that is, Hinduja brothers, Shiva Nadar, Gautam Adani and Azim Premji.

2 Hinduja brothers

With a wealth of Rs 1,43,700 crore, Hinduja Brothers occupied the second spot in the list. However, their valuation witnessed a sharp 23 per cent drop during the year. This can be majorly due to lackluster performance of their flagship companies like IndusInd Bank, Gulf Oil and GOCL Corporation Limited.

The Hinduja family are among the world’s richest. The bulk of their fortune derives from Hinduja Group, the closely held conglomerate that today has investments spanning finance, media and health care in almost 40 countries.

3 Shiv Nadar

HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar climbed up two places to bag the third spot in Hurun India’s rich list with a total net worth of Rs 1,41,700 crore. In July, Nadar stepped down as the chairman of HCL and his daughter Roshni Nadar Malhotra took over as the company’s chairperson.

Interestingly, Roshni topped the Hurun India and Kotak Wealth list of the richest women in the country in 2020 with a net worth of Rs 54,850 crore.

4 Gautam Adani

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani's wealth grew by 48 per cent compared to that of last year as he moved up two places to the fourth rank. Backed by the performance of Adani Green, the company’s chairman found a place in the top 5 for the first time. In August, Adani Green became the first Adani Group company to cross the Rs 1 lakh crore market cap.

It has won the bid to operate, manage and develop six Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports, namely Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for 50 years.

5 Azim Premji

Wipro chief Azim Premji moved down two places to the fifth spot with total wealth of Rs 1,14,400 crore.

The company’s stock has rallied about 70 per cent since the appointment of Thierry Delaporte as new chief executive officer (CEO). The increase in share price is most among India’s four largest outsourcing firms during the period.

6 Cyrus Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India (SII) founder Cyrus Poonawala bagged the sixth position as his wealth rose by 6 per cent during the current year. SII -- world's largest vaccine-maker -- is working closely with Oxford University and multiple institutions to manufacture and distribute Covid-19 vaccines.

Poonawalla made his appearance for the first time in the Hurun India rich list in June 2020. At present, his total net worth is about Rs 94,300 crore.

7 Radhakishan Damani

Founder of Avenue Supermarts Radhakishan Damani made his debut into the top 10 in IIFL Wealth Hurun India rich list with a net worth of Rs 87,200 crore.

Since its IPO in 2017, Avenue Supermarts’ share price has increased by more than 250 per cent and his rank in the list shot up by 23 places. Damani, who is also a revered investor, was in the news for buying 2.75 per cent of India Cements through an open market transaction.

8 Uday Kotak

Uday Kotak, the founder managing director and promoter of Kotak Mahindra Bank, is the eighth richest Indian. His total wealth during the year would be about Rs 87,000 crore.

However, on account of 5.1 per cent loss in first quarter (Q1) of the year, the bank’s wealth registered a drop of 8 per cent or Rs 7,100 crore as compared to last year.

9 Dilip Shanghvi

Backed by a 22 per cent rise in share price of pharmaceutical major Sun Pharma, Dilip Shanghvi’s wealth increased by 17 per cent or Rs 12,500 crore to Rs 84,000 crore. Sun Pharma’s share price decreased by 25 per cent when lockdown started and registered a strong v-shaped recovery, and gained back a whopping 60 per cent over the last 6 months.

10 Cyrus & Shapoor Pallonji

The Pallonji brothers, Cyrus and Shapoor Pallonji, shared the tenth spot in the list with a total net worth of Rs 76,000 crore each.

The SP Group's biggest asset is an 18.4 per cent stake in Tata Sons. In September, the Mistrys decided to sell their stake in Tata Sons saying that a separation of interests would best serve all stakeholder groups.

People of Indian origin

USA

7 Indian-Americans in Forbes’ rich list, September 9, 2020: The Times of India

Seven Indian-Americans have figured in Forbes’ list of 400 richest Americans, topped by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has a net worth of $179 billion, for the third year in a row.

The seven Indian-Americans that featured in the list were cybersecurity firm ZScaler CEO Jay Chaudhry, Symphony Technology Group founder and chairman Romesh Wadhwani, co-founder and CEO of online home goods retailer Wayfair Niraj Shah, Silicon Valley VC firm Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, Sherpalo Ventures managing partner Kavitark Ram Shriram, IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal and Workday CEO &co-founder Aneel Bhusri.

The richest people in America saw their overall wealth swell despite the coronavirus pandemic’s devastated impact on the US economy. AGENCIES