Mukesh Ambani again tops Forbes’ richest Indians list
Reliance Industries Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani has emerged as India’s wealthiest for the 10th year on Forbes magazine’s India Rich List 2017 as his net worth swelled to $38 billion (nearly ₹2.5 lakh crore).
NEWDELHI: Reliance Industries Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani on Thursday emerged as India’s wealthiest for the 10th straight year as his net worth swelled to $38 billion (nearly ₹2.5 lakh crore) while the wealth of 100 richest rose by 26% despite economic hiccups. Ambani added $15.3 billion (67%) to his last year’s wealth.
Wipro’s Azim Premji was second with a net worth of $19 billion, moving up two places from last year, while Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi slipped from his earlier second place to the ninth now ($12.1 billion) on Forbes magazine’s annual India Rich List 2017.
Anil Ambani was ranked much lower at 45th place with $3.15 billion. He was ranked 32nd in 2016 ($3.4 billion) and 29th a year before that.
Patanjali Ayurved’s Acharya Balkrishna, known as a close associate of yoga guru Ramdev, made a big jump from 48th place last year to 19th now with a net worth of $6.55 billion.
“Despite India’s economic hiccups, tycoons on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List saw their wealth soar as their combined fortunes rose 26% to $479 billion (over₹31 lakh crore),” the magazine said. “India’s turbo-charged economy sputtered in the quarter ended in June as it grew at a three-year low of 5.7%, due to the aftershocks of last November’s demonetisation and uncertainties over the rollout of a nationwide Goods and Services Tax. Despite this, the stock market scaled new heights and boosted the fortunes of the nation’s 100 richest,” it added.
In the case of Ambani, improved refining margins and Reliance Jio’s thundering success in notching up 130 million subscribers since its 2016 launch pushed up shares of RIL. The Hinduja brothers are at the third position with $18.4 billion, while Lakshmi Mittal is now ranked fourth ($16.5 billion) and Pallonji Mistry fifth ($16 billion).
Forbes said public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 15. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.