NEW DELHI: Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, who has been named India’s richest person for the 9th year in a row with a sharp increase in networth to USD 22.7 billion, has fortune that is equal to Estonia’s GDP, says Forbes India.
Similarly, Wipro’s Azim Premji, the 4th richest Indian on the Forbes list, has a networth of USD 15 billion — more than Mozambique’s GDP of USD 14.7 billion.
Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi is the second richest with a wealth of USD 16.9 billion, while the Hinduja Family moved up to the third position (USD 15.2 billion) on the annual list of India’s 100 Richest People.
Pallonji Mistry with a wealth of USD 13.90 billion is the 5th richest Indian on the list.
According to magazine, the total wealth of India’s top five billionaires, which stands at a whopping USD 83.7 billion, is more than the cost of 1,230 Mars Orbiter ‘Mangalyaan’ Missions and is more than 18 times the cost of hosting the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Much of the wealth is accumulated in the top half of the ‘Richie Rich’ league, Forbes said, adding that if the ’80-20 rule’ is applied to the list, it indicates a ‘trickling down’ of fortunes to the lower order.
“The 80-20 rule, when applied to the rich list, should translate to the top 20 billionaires accounting for 80 per cent of the wealth. However, the share of the top 20 in overall wealth has steadily eroded from 70 per cent in 2009 to 52 percent in 2016, indicating a trickling down of fortunes to the lower order,” the business magazine added.
According to the list, the total wealth of the 100 richest stood at USD 381 billion, up 10 per cent from USD 345 billion in 2015.
Since 2014, all the richest Indians have been ‘billionaires’ instead of some millionaires earlier. The minimum cut-off to figure in the 100 Richest Indians list hit a record high of USD 1.25 billion this year. Last year it was USD 1.1 billion.
Besides, the top 10 billionaires from the 2015 list also figure in the 2016 top 10, with a few inter-se changes.
“The 2016 Forbes India Rich List is evidence that Indian enterprise is alive and well. The cut-off for entry into this exclusive club has hit a record high of USD 1.25 billion this year and while we have seen some notable exclusions, new and younger entrepreneurs have also announced their arrival into the list,” said Sourav Majumdar, Editor, Forbes India.
The top gainers on the list in percentage terms were KP Singh (USD 4.80 billion) and Ajay Piramal (USD 3.25 billion) who added a whopping 84.6 per cent and 82.6 per cent to their wealth, respectively.
Young entrepreneurs like Flipkart’s Sachin and Binny Bansal dropped off the list, while newcomers like tech entrepreneurs the Turakhia brothers and Acharya Balkrishna make their debut. (AGENCIES)
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