Mukesh Ambani has retained his position as the world’s richest Indian for the fifth year in a row, although his net worth declined by $1.6 billion to $21 billion but remained well above that of the second-ranked Lakshmi Mittal.
Steel baron Mr. Mittal’s net worth also fell by $3 billion at $16 billion, making him the second richest, as per global business magazine Forbes’ annual ranking of 100 wealthiest Indians, released Thursday.
Mr. Ambani, who heads energy-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries group, and Mr. Mittal were followed by IT czar Azim Premji ($12.2 billion), construction major and Tata group’s major shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji group patriarch Pallonji Mistry ($9.8 billion) and drugmaker Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi ($9.2 billion) in the top five.
Mr. Mukesh’s younger brother Anil Ambani, who heads telecom-to-infrastructure conglomerate Reliance Group, was ranked 11th with a net worth of $6 billion.
Others in top-10 ranking include Adi Godrej at sixth position ($9 billion), followed by Savitri Jindal ($8.2 billion), Shashi & Ravi Ruia ($8.1 billion), Hinduja Brothers ($8 billion) and Kumar Mangalam Birla ($7.8 billion).
Even as the net worth of top-ranked persons like Mr. Ambani and Mr. Mittal fell, the collective wealth of India’s richest 100 rose by 3.7 per cent ($9 billion) to $250 billion in the past one year, Forbes said.
The number of billionaires also rose to 61, from 57 last year. Sun Pharma group’s Mr. Shanghvi entered the top five for the first time.
