Summary:
Nineteen Indian newcomers joined the list, while another 19 returned to the list after falling off in the past.
Among the new faces is octogenarian Prathap Reddy, founder and chairman of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, whose chain of Apollo Hospitals is treating Covid-19 patients.
Arvind Lal, who founded and runs diagnostics chain Dr.Lal PathLabs, which got government approval to conduct Covid-19 tests, also makes his debut.
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Another Covid-19 wave is sweeping across India and total cases now exceed 12 million. But the country’s stock market has shrugged off its pandemic funk to scale new peaks; the benchmark Sensex is up 75% from a year ago.
The total number of Indian billionaires rose to 140 from 102 last year; their combined wealth has nearly doubled to $596 billion.
Prosperity rules at the very top: The three richest Indians alone have added just over $100 billion between them.
Mukesh Ambani, who has successfully diversified his oil and gas empire into fast-rising sectors such as telecom and retail, reclaimed his spot as Asia’s richest person, with a net worth of $84.5 billion.
Nineteen Indian newcomers joined the list, while another 19 returned to the list after falling off in the past.
Among the new faces is octogenarian Prathap Reddy, founder and chairman of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, whose chain of Apollo Hospitals is treating Covid-19 patients.
Arvind Lal, who founded and runs diagnostics chain Dr.Lal PathLabs, which got government approval to conduct Covid-19 tests, also makes his debut.
Here are India`s 10 richest people; net worths are as of March 5, 2021:
#1 | Mukesh Ambani
NET WORTH: $84.5 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: DIVERSIFIED
RESIDENCE: MUMBAI
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Ambani accomplished a fund-raising feat, garnering $35 billion through a string of deals to achieve his target of reducing his flagship Reliance Industries’ net debt to zero by 2021.
He also sold a third of telecom unit Jio to marquee investors such as Facebook and Google and offloaded 10% of Reliance Retail to private equity firms such as KKR and General Atlantic, plus concluded a $7.3 billion rights issue of Reliance shares.
#2 | Gautam Adani
NET WORTH: $50.5 BILLION
SOURCE OF WEALTH: INFRASTRUCTURE
RESIDENCE: AHMEDABAD
Adani acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport, the country’s second-busiest, last September.