Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes’s annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons with a net worth of $22.7 billion. The combined net worth of India’s 100 wealthiest is $381 billion, a rise of 10 percent from $345 billion in 2015.
Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: “In a post-Brexit world, India appears a steady ship with an economy growing at 7 percent-plus. The majority of India’s 100 richest have notched up handsome gains as their companies have outperformed the stock market in the past year. As the domestic investment cycle starts kicking in, we can expect more gains and new names in the future.”
The latest edition of Forbes Rich list also saw few Keralities who made into billionaire club. Among them is Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman of Abu Dhabi based Middle East retail chain Lulu Group who is placed 25th in the list with a networth of $4 Billion. Last year his net worth was US$ 3.7 billion. He is the only Keralite who made among TOP 25 of Indian Billionaires. Yusuff Ali presides over $6.3 billion (revenue) LuLu Group, with 129 stores in the Gulf region, India, Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia, Turkey and Brazil. New projects include a $300 million investment in Trivandrum in South India that will include a mall, hotel and convention center. The group's hospitality arm owns Dubai's first Steigenberger hotel, a German luxury hotel brand and a 50% stake in the Sheraton hotel in Muscat, which will reopen October this year after renovations and the legendary Old Scotland Yard building in London, slated to be open as a Luxury Hotel by early next year.
Other prominent NRIs in the list include Micky Jagtiani, founder of Middle East retailing giant Landmark Group with an estimated revenue of $6 billion, Ravi Pillai, also a Gulf based businessman who is placed 38th in the list with a fortune of $3.1 Billion, BR Shetty of NMC Group with a networth of $2.6 Billion, Sunil Vaswani of Dubai-headquartered Stallion Group, Sunny Varky, Chairman of GEMS Schools ($1.9 B) 60th in the list, PNC Menon with $1.64 B (78th) , Azad Moopen ($1.28 B) and Shamsheer Vayalil ($1.27 B),.
India’s richest pharmaceutical magnate, Dilip Shanghvi, remains at No 2 with a net worth of $16.9 billion. His wealth fell by $1.1 billion along with a drop in the shares of his Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s fifth-largest generics maker. Earlier this year, Sun Pharma acquired 14 drugs from Novartis in Japan for $293 million, which will be distributed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. Taking the third spot are the Hinduja brothers with a net worth of $15.2 billion, up from $14.8 billion last year. The four siblings – Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok – control multinational empire Hinduja Group, with businesses ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television. The group commissioned its much-delayed 1,040 megawatt thermal power unit in South India in July.
Tech magnate Azim Premji, who has led Wipro for five decades, slips one spot to No 4 on the list with a net worth of $15 billion. Wipro, India’s third largest outsourcer, reported a 6 percent fall in net earnings to $304 million in a recent quarter amid sluggish sales. To boost growth, the company has been on a buying spree and its most recent acquisition was HealthPlan Services, an insurance-technology firm based in Florida.