Mukesh tops India rich list, adds $15 billion to his pile

For the tenth straight year, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani has emerged as India’s wealthiest person, as his net worth swelled to $38 billion (nearly ₹2.5 lakh crore). The wealth of India’s 100 richest rose by 26 per cent despite economic hiccups.

Wipro’s Azim Premji was a distant second with a net worth of $19 billion, moving up two places from last year, while Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi slipped from his earlier second place to the ninth ($12.1 billion) on Forbes magazine’s annual India Rich List 2017’.

Forbes said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “economic experiments” barely affected India’s billionaires while none gained more than oil-and-gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani, who cemented his decade-long hold on the top slot by adding a staggering $15.3 billion (67 per cent) to his last year’s wealth to become one of Asia’s top five richest.

Gautam Adani, has moved up to 10th position ($11 billion), from 13th rank last year, as his networth rose from $6.3 billion.

Patanjali Ayurved’s Acharya Balkrishna, known as a close associate of yoga guru Ramdev, made a big jump from 48th place last year to 19th, with a net worth of $6.55 billion (about ₹43,000 crore).

“India’s turbo-charged economy sputtered in the quarter ended in June as it grew at a three-year low of 5.7 per cent, due to the aftershocks of last November’s demonetisation and uncertainties over the rollout of a nation-wide Goods and Services Tax. Despite this, the stock market scaled new heights and boosted the fortunes of the nation’s 100 richest,” it added.

The richest newcomer is cookies-and-airline tycoon Nusli Wadia (25) with a net worth of $5.6 billion.