Rich List: India, 2017
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Bloomberg’s (global) Billionaire Index
2017, top 3 in Asia
Mukesh Ambani 2nd richest in Asia after Alibaba's Jack Ma, August 2, 2017: The Times of India
With $35Bn Net, RIL Chief Pips Li Ka-shing
Mukesh Ambani has elbowed past Li Ka shing to become Asia's second-richest man as investors rallied behind his efforts to arm India's poor with cheap data-loaded phones. Some analysts are beginning to focus on the costs of his ambition.
The chairman of Reliance Industries has added $12.5 billion to his wealth this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as shares of his refining-to-telecom company surged to a record. Spurring the rally on is optimism that a new $23 phone launched last month will expand the market for Ambani's fourthgeneration mobile network into India's hinterland. The whistles and applause that greeted the JioPhone obscured the fact that by one measure the company's debt has climbed to at least a 15-year high.
The telecom business, Ambani's seven-year labour of love, has sucked in more than $31 billion in investments and is yet to earn him and his shareholders any profits. It's contributed to a near tripling of the group's total debt since March 2012 and sparked a vicious price war in the world's second-largest mobile-phone market. About 90% of Reliance's revenues continue to come from its lega cy refining and petrochemicals units, with retail, media and energy exploration contributing the rest. Ambani described Jio as “a jewel“ among Reliance assets during the company's annual general meeting on July 21. For Ambani, the gains have swelled his net worth to $35.2 billion, taking him to number 19 in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index from 29 at the end of 2016.
He passed Li Ka-shing -whose empire spans telecommunications, retail and ports -for a few days in April and again on July 7.
Jio took just nine months after launching with a free introductory offer to rope in 117.3 million users and become India's fourth-largest operator, according to government data compiled by Bloomberg.
2017: 21 Indian billionaires
Bloomberg listed the world’s 500 richest persons in 2017. There were 21 Indians in the list.
No other South Asian nation figured on the list.
Rank Name Total net worth $ Last change $ YTD change Country Industry
19 Mukesh Ambani $35.1B -$153M +$12.3B India Energy
55 Lakshmi Mittal $16.7B -$117M +$2.28B India Commodities
65 Azim Premji $16.0B +$200M +$3.77B India Technology
70 Pallonji Mistry $15.7B +$101M +$1.96B India Industrial
91 Shiv Nadar $13.5B -$95.4M +$1.46B India Technology
119 Dilip Shanghvi $11.7B +$53.1M -$1.06B India Health Care
134 Uday Kotak $10.3B -$39.8M +$3.20B India Finance
158 Kumar Birla $9.16B $0 +$3.13B India Industrial
164 Cyrus Poonawalla $8.96B +$4.80M +$968M India Health Care
165 Gautam Adani $8.79B +$166M +$4.16B India Industrial
219 Vikram Lal $7.09B +$317M +$2.33B India Industrial
242 Benu Gopal Bangur $6.64B +$22.3M +$1.67B India Commodities
248 Pankaj Patel $6.56B -$24.2M +$2.44B India Health Care
317 Radhakishan Damani $5.38B -$11.7M +$3.48B India Retail
341 Indu Jain $5.14B +$28.7M +$1.03B India Media & Telecom
353 Micky Jagtiani $5.03B -$42.5M +$39.7M India Retail
359 K P Singh $4.99B +$11.4M +$1.97B India Real Estate
362 Ajay Piramal $4.98B +$18.7M +$1.97B India Finance
369 Prakash Hinduja $4.92B +$61.0M +$1.16B India Diversified
370 Ashok Hinduja $4.92B +$61.0M +$1.16B India Diversified
431 Rahul Bajaj $4.42B +$35.4M +$1.30B India Diversified
Diaspora billionaires on Bloomberg's list
303 Prakash Lohia $5.53B +$20.1M +$1.30B Indonesia Industrial
323 Ananda Krishnan $5.30B +$26.4M +$136M Malaysia Diversified
363 Shahid Khan $4.98B -$59.3M +$72.4M United States Consumer
368 Gopichand Hinduja $4.92B +$61.0M +$1.16B United Kingdom Diversified
371 Srichand Hinduja $4.92B +$61.0M +$1.16B United Kingdom Diversified
Diaspora
The UK
Hindujas Britain's wealthiest, 2 more Indians in top 5, May 8, 2017: The Times of India
The wealthiest persons in Britain are India-born, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2017 which places the Hinduja brothers Srichand and Gopichand at the top of 134 billionaires. The brothers' estimated riches: 16.2 billion pounds, 3.2 billion pounds more than last year.
Overall, the United Kingdom has witnessed, contrary to all expectations, what can only be described as a Brexit boom. Its billionaires are richer than before, so much so that the combined wealth of the top 500 individuals and families is more than the total put up by last year's wealthiest 1,000, the Sunday Times reported. And there are more of them; together, they have earned a staggering 658 billion pounds, a record. The list compiler credited their growing fortunes to a revival in the stock market.
David and Simon Reuben, of Iraqi Jewish origin but Mumbai-born, have slipped from first to third place this year with an estimated wealth of 14 billion pounds. Steel magnate Lakshmi N Mittal is fourth with 13.2 billion pounds; the increase in his wealth from last year is quite phenomenal at 6.1 billion pounds.
There isn't a single Briton in the wealthiest top 4 in a land the economist Adam Smith wrote of as a “nation of shopkeepers“; second place this year belongs to the Ukrainian businessman Len Blavatnik. However, the current Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosevenor, does make it to the list (ranked 9) with assets worth £9.52 billion.
The compiler has placed a total of 40 Indian-origin people in the rankings, including the Gujarati brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa of Euro Garages whose one billion pounds puts them at 133rd position.Also among the new billionaires are the brothers Raj, Tony and Harpal Matharu of the Grange hotel chain with one billion pounds.
Lord Swraj Paul, an NRI, finds himself at No.194, his wealth eroded by 80 million pounds since last year. The 2017 list estimates his fortune at 660 million pounds.
Tech billionaires
1. Mukesh Ambani'
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani tops Forbes' India Rich List 2017. According to Forbes, Mukesh Ambani's net worth stands at $38 billion.
Though per se not a 'tech billionaire', he makes it to this list courtesy Reliance Jio. The Reliance Industries' chairman is betting big on his group's foray into the telecom sector. Reliance Jio launched its services commercially in September last year. In July this year, the company announced a new feature phone called JioPhone. The JioPhone comes at a effective price tag of Rs zero. Buyers have to pay a security deposit of Rs 1,500, refundable after three years.
2. Azim Premji
Next on the list is Azim Premji. Premji is chairman of Bangalore-based Wipro, one of the country's largest software and IT services company. His net worth, according to Forbes, is $19 billion. The 72-year old Premji is ranked among Asia's most generous billionaires, having given away 39% of his company's shares.
3. Shiv Nadar
Next tech billionaire on the list is HCL Technologies' founder Shiv Nadar. He ranks at No. 7 in the overall list with a net worth of $13.6 billion. Nadar founded HCL in the year 1976. HCL Tech today employs over 120,000 people globally. He ranks at No. 18 among the richest people in the tech globally.
4. Sunil Mittal
Next from the tech industry on the Forbes' India Rich list is Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal at No. 14 (over all list ranking). His net worth, according to Forbes, is $8.3 billion. Airtel is the largest telecom service provider in India. The company is into a bruising tariff war with the newest telco, Reliance Jio. Earlier this year, the Bharti Airtel also launching Airtel Payments Bank in a joint venture with Kotak Mahindra Bank.
5. Anil Ambani
At No. 45 on the Forbes' India Rich List 2017 is Reliance Communications' Anil Ambani. According to Forbes, the net worth of the younger of the Ambani brothers is $3.15 billion. Anil Ambani's business empire also has interests in financial services, media and infrastructure. Reliance Communications recently called off its merger with Aircel.
6. NR Narayana Murthy
NR Narayana Murthy is the next tech billionaire in Forbes' India Rich List 2017. Infosys co-founder Murthy stepped down as chairman of the company in the year 2011, after almost 3 decades with the company. He returned to Infosys in 2013 and left in 2014 after handing over the CEO's position to former SAP exec Vishal Sikka. He was recently in news after Infosys board blamed him for the resignation of the former CEO Sikka. The resignation of Sikka led to a management shakeup in the company leading to the return of cofounder Nandan Nilekani as non-executive chairman. He is also ranked among the richest tech billionires in the world.
7. Dinesh Nandwana
One of the new entrants on Forbes' annual India Rich list is Dinesh Nandwana, the CEO and managing director of e-governance services firm Vakrangee Ltd. Ranked at No. 88 in the overall list, his netw worth is $1.72 billion.
8. Nandan Nilekani
Next on list is another Infosys co-founder, Nandan Nilekani. Nilekani is also the current non-executive chairman of the IT giant, a position he took over in August 2017 after a board shakeup. He is also the former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, the body responsible for creating identity card scheme Aadhar. Nilekani ranks at No. 89 in the Forbes' India Rich List 2017 with a net worth of $1.71 billion. He is the biggest investor in TeamIndus, the Indian company building a spacecraft to land on the moon.
9. Senapathy Gopalakrishnan
Third person to be on the list from Indian IT giant Infosys is Senapathy Kris Gopalakrishnan. One of the co-founders of Infosys, Gopalakrishnan retired from the company in the year 2014. With a net worth of $1.61 billion, he ranks at No. 92 on Forbes' India Rich List 2017. Since his retirement, Gopalakrishnan has invested in over 60 startups.
10. Vijay Shekhar Sharma
At No. 99 is another billionaire from the technology industry, Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma. His net worth, as per Forbes' India Rich List 2017, is $1.47 billion. Founded in the year 2011, Paytm has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Indian government's demonetisation. Sharma owns some 18% in Paytm, which was valued at $7 billion in May this year.
See also…
Rich List: India <> Rich List: India, 2014: Forbes <>Rich List: India, 2014: Hurun <>Rich List: India, 2015: Forbes <> Rich List: India, 2015: Hurun <>Rich list, India: 2016 <> Rich List: India, 2016: Forbes <> Rich List: India, 2017 <> Rich List: India, 2017: Hurun<> Rich list, India: 2018
Rich list of film artistes: India
…and also
Rich List: Nepal<> Celebrity List: India<> Indian money in HSBC, Switzerland <> Private lives of famous Indians
