MUMBAI: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes’s annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons with a net worth of $22.7 billion.
The combined net worth of India’s 100 wealthiest is $381bn, a rise of 10 per cent from $345bn in 2015.
Naazneen Karmali, India editor of Forbes Asia, said: “In a post-Brexit world, India appears a steady ship with an economy growing at 7pc-plus. The majority of India’s 100 richest have notched up handsome gains as their companies have outperformed the stock market in the past year. As the domestic investment cycle starts kicking in, we can expect more gains and new names in the future.”
The latest edition of Forbes rich list also saw Keralites who made into billionaire club. Among them is Yusuff Ali MA, chairman of Abu Dhabi-based Middle East retail chain LuLu Group who is placed 25th in the list with a networth of $4bn.
Last year his net worth was $3.7bn. He is the only Keralite who made among top 25 of Indian billionaires.
Yusuff Ali presides over $6.3bn (revenue) LuLu Group, with 129 stores in the Gulf region, India, Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia, Turkey and Brazil. New projects include a $300 million investment in Thiruvananthapuram that will include a mall, hotel and convention centre.
The group’s hospitality arm owns Dubai’s first Steigenberger hotel, a German luxury hotel brand and a 50pc stake in the Sheraton hotel in Muscat, which will reopen in October after renovations and the legendary Old Scotland Yard building in London, slated to be open as a luxury hotel by early next year.
Yusuff Ali is followed by Ravi Pillai, also a Gulf-based businessman who is placed 38th with a fortune of $3.1bn. George Muthoot is placed 59th ($1.92bn), Sunny Varky, chairman of GEMS Schools ($1.9bn) 60th and PNC Menon with $1.64bn (78th). Others in the list are Kris Gopalakrishnan, ($1.92bn), Azad Moopen ($1.28bn) and Shamsheer Vayalil ($1.27bn), who is the youngest Malayalee in the list and son-in-law of Yusuffali MA.
Other prominent NRIs in the list include Micky Jagtiani of Landmark Group and BR Shetty of NMC Group.
India’s richest pharmaceutical magnate, Dilip Shanghvi, remains at No 2 with a net worth of $16.9bn. His wealth fell by $1.1bn along with a drop in the shares of his Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s fifth-largest generics maker.
Taking the third spot are the Hinduja brothers with a net worth of $15.2bn, up from $14.8bn last year. The four siblings – Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok – control multinational empire of Hinduja Group, with businesses ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television. The group commissioned its much-delayed 1,040 MW thermal power unit in South India in July.
Tech magnate Azim Premji, who has led Wipro for five decades, slips one spot to No 4 with a net worth of $15bn. Wipro, India’s third largest outsourcer, reported a 6pc fall in net earnings to $304 million in a recent quarter amid sluggish sales. To boost growth, the company has been on a buying spree and its most recent acquisition was HealthPlan Services, an insurance-technology firm based in Florida.