Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd, topped the ‘Barclays Hurun India Rich List 2018’ with a total net worth of Rs 3.71 trillion. This is the seventh consecutive year that Ambani has topped the rich list, which is a compilation of the richest individuals in India having a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore or more. The number of individuals featured in the 2018 edition has increased by a third to 831 from 617 in 2017. The cumulative wealth of the 831 individuals featured in the list stood at $719 billion, amounting to a quarter of India’s gross domestic product of $2.85 trillion, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate on 1 April.
Around 306 new entrants were added to the list in the 2018 edition while 75 of those featured in 2017, didn’t make it to the present edition.
There is a huge gap between the top ranks. Ambani’s wealth rose on the back of 47% increase of the share price of his flagship company, Reliance Industries. His wealth is more than the combined wealth of the next three: S.P. Hinduja, L.N. Mittal, and Azim Premji.
Ambani’s wealth increased by Rs 300 crore a day over the past year, backed by successful launch of Jio, backed by the above average margins maintained by Reliance’s petrochemical business, tripled with a successful retail business foray have resulted in Reliance’s share price increasing by more than 47%.
Mumbai registered an increase of 51 individuals in the rich list and Delhi added 46, the list showed.
With 233 individuals or 28% of the list, Mumbai is the absolute capital when it comes to the country’s top entrepreneurs, followed by New Delhi and Bengaluru .
With 22 new entrants, Ahmedabad overtook Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata to jump to fourth spot, the release showed.
The industries that added the most number of new entrants to the list were pharmaceuticals, FMCG, construction & engineering and automobiles & auto components.
Despite the underperformance of the pharma sector, it still contributes the highest to the list with 114 entries that includes 17 billionaires. In 2018, the sector witnessed a 23% growth in cumulative wealth compared to 9% in 2017. The increase in cumulative wealth is backed by increased valuation multiples of key pharma players that have a 50% export revenue, aided by rupee depreciation.
With wealth increase of 430%, Krishna Kumar Bangur of Graphite India is the biggest gainer.
Ritesh Agarwal, 24, of Oravel Stays is the youngest person in the list and the oldest is Dharam Pal Gulati, 95 of MDH.
Number of women in the list increased by 157% to 136 entries this year.
The richest woman in the list is Smita V. Crishna, 67, of Godrej with Rs 44,600 crore, followed by Roshni Nadar, 36, of HCL with a net worth of Rs 31,400 crore.
The richest self-made woman in India is biotechnology queen Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon Ltd. with a net worth of Rs 22,700 crore.
We have taken all measures to ensure that the information provided in this article and on our social media platform is credible, verified and sourced from other Big media Houses. For any feedback or complaint, reach out to us at businessleaguein@gmail.com
