Forbes Asia’s India’s 40 Richest List sees 9 new billionaires

A 39% increase in share prices and a hot real estate market have raised the combined net worth of India’s 40 richest people by 60% this year, and helped make nine more billionaires in Forbes Asia’s 2006 India’s 40 Richest List.

The combined fortunes of the top 40 richest Indians stood at US$170 billion (RM620.91 million), an increase of US$64 billion. The 10 richest account for two-thirds of the wealth of the group or US$112 billion.

There were 36 billionaires on the list, and nine new ones including Ramesh Chandra (US$5.3 billion), Grandhi Rao (US$2.2 billion) and Kalanithi Maran (US$1.9 billion).

Topping the list again was steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who in June won the battle for rival Arcelor in a US$34 billion merger that created an industry behemoth that now accounts for 10% of the world’s production.

Mittal, 56, has a net worth of US$25 billion and lives in London.

While the top position remains the same, the two Ambani brothers of Reliance have taken over Azim Premji’s position as the “richest resident in India.”

Premji, who runs technology services giant Wipro, has a net worth of US$14 billion. He dropped from the second to the fourth spot.

Mukesh and Anil Ambani held the second and third positions, respectively.

After splitting their company over a very public spat, Mukesh Ambani saw his net worth rise by US$11.5 billion to US$18.5 billion. Anil’s fortune saw a US$9.3 billion gain to US$14.8 billion as a result of a listing of Reliance Communications.

In fifth place is Kushal Pal Singh, who inherited his father-in-law’s Delhi Land & Finance and turned it into India’s leading property developer. He is also building the Mall of India, the nation’s biggest shopping complex.

In the news lately were number 26, Venugopal Dhoot (US$1.75 billion), who is set to acquire Daewoo Electronics for US$700 million, and number 27, Uday Kotak (US$1.59 billion) who bought out Goldman Sach’s stake in his investment and banking arms.

Youngest on the list is 31-year-old Shivinder Singh who holds the number 24th position with his 34-year-old brother Malvinder. They are the largest shareholders of Ranbaxy Laboratories, India’s largest pharmaceutical firm by sales, and have a net worth of US$1.8 billion.

The minimum net worth criteria to make it onto this year’s list increased to US$790 million from last year’s US$590 million.

This year’s dropouts included India’s richest self-made woman, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

The stock of her biopharmaceutical firm Biocon dropped 26% in the past 12 months. The list’s biggest loser was Anurag Dikshit, number 29, whose PartyGaming stock tanked over regulatory issues.

India’s top 10 richest:

1.	Lakshmi Mittal	US$25billion
2.	Mukesh Ambani	US$18.5 billion
3.	Anil Ambani	US$14.8 billion
4.	Azim Premji	US$14 billion
5.	Kushal Pal Singh	US$10 billion
6.	Sunil Mittal	US$6.9 billion
7.	Kumar Birla	US$6.8 billion
8.	Tulsi Tanti	US$5.9 billion
9.	Ramesh Chandra	US$5.3 billion
10.	Pallonji Mistry	US$4.9 billion

The Edge Daily, November 17, 2006

~ by anick on November 17, 2006.