India added a billionaire each week in 2017: Report
Despite a slowing economy and demonetisation, India added 56 new billionaires in 2017 with a total of 170 Indians making it into the Richie Rich club. According to the Hurun Global Rich List, China topped the list with 819 billionaires almost five times more than India’s, and the United States with 571 billionaires.
Despite a slowing economy and demonetisation, India added 56 new billionaires in 2017 with a total of 170 Indians making it into the Richie Rich club. According to the Hurun Global Rich List, China topped the list with 819 billionaires almost five times more than India’s, and the United States with 571 billionaires.
With a wealth of $45 billion, Mukesh Ambani topped India's rich list and also made it to the top 20 rich list in the world. The India list also saw almost one-third of its constituents replaced by new billionaires as many businesses failed due to cancellation of mines, infighting among promoters and sale of businesses by the local entrepreneurs.
China also scored well with more women billionaires making it to the list. As against China's 163 women billionaires, India had only 14 with Savitri Jindal of the Jindal family topping the list. “India is now the third largest billionaire-creating country in the world. When India’s GDP (gross domestic product touches $6 trillion by 2022, we expect the number of billionaires to at least double from the current number,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, managing director and chief researcher, Hurun Report India.
Jeff Bezos, 54, shot up to world No. 1 for the first time after the Amazon stock rose 70 per cent in 2017. Last year, online marketer Amazon reported a revenue of $177 billion and net profit of $3 billion.
The biggest gainer in the India rich list was 62-year-old Radhakishan Damani, chairman of Avenue Supermarts (operator of the D-Mart brand of super stores), with a 445 per cent increase in his wealth. Damani was followed by Acharya Balkrishna (45) of Patanjali Ayurved with a wealth increase of 224 per cent. Kishore Biyani of Future Retail re-entered the list, following the merger of Future Retail and Bharti Retail that created the biggest supermarket chain with a turnover of ~150 billion. The company’s subsequent relisting resulted in significant wealth creation for Biyani, Hurun said here on Wednesday. India also saw three self-made billionaires under 40 years of age with Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm making it to the list, followed by Divyank Turakhia of Media.net and Shraddha Agarwal (32) of Outcome Health.
With a wealth of ~609 billion each, Cyrus Mistry and Shapoor Mistry are the richest new entrants as their father Pallonji Mistry divided his empire equally between his two sons. The Mistry brothers would be the second richest Indian family after Ambani if their wealth is taken into account jointly.
Among the wealth-creating sectors, the top-performer was pharmaceutical industry, with 20 out of the 170 billionaires from India, followed by technology, media and telecom, and the automobile/auto components sectors. Other industries
that had a good year include consumer products and conglomerates. The pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, conglomerate, and automobile and components segments added six new billionaires each to this year’s list.
The Hurun Global Rich List 2018 ranked 2,694 billionaires from 68 countries and from 2,157 companies. The total wealth of billionaires increased by a staggering 31 per cent to $10.5 trillion, equivalent to 13.2 per cent of global GDP, and almost double the 7 per cent of global GDP six years ago. “Never has so much wealth been concentrated in the hands of so few,” Rupert Hoogewerf, founder, Hurun Global Rich List, said.
“A boom in China, a weak dollar and a 26 per cent hike in the Nasdaq have led to a surge in dollar billionaires across the world. The dollar depreciated against all currencies. Global economic growth was 3 per cent last year, the fastest rate since 2011 and a significant acceleration compared with a 2.4 per cent the previous year,” he said.