Combined wealth of India's 100 richest on Forbes list rises to USD 800 billion: Report
Oct 19, 2022
Singapore, October 19 : The collective wealth of tycoons on the 2022 Forbes list of India's 100 Richest grew USD 25 billion to USD 800 billion, according to a Forbes Asia.
The Forbes statement released last week said a weaker rupee impacted the majority of the richest but that was offset by Gautam Adani's record gain, which made him the new number one on the list.
The list can also be found in the October issue of Forbes Asia and the November issue of Forbes India. India's post-pandemic demand revival powered its economy to become the fifth-largest in the world, surpassing the U.K.
"The increase in the collective net worth of the 100 richest was largely due to infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani's rise, which changed the pecking order at the top for the first time since 2008. After nearly tripling his wealth in 2021, Adani doubled his net worth this year to USD150 billion to become the number one and also, for a while, the second richest person on the planet," Forbes Asia said.
The biggest gainer this year in both percentage and dollar terms, Adani announced that he would be investing USD100 billion over the next decade, with 70per cent of it in green energy, the release adds.
Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance Industries, the energy to telecom giant, is at number two with USD88 billion, down 5per cent from last year. Between them, Adani and Ambani now account for 30per cent of the total wealth of India's 100 richest.
The country's retailing king, Radhakishan Damani, who owns the DMart supermarket chain, broke into the top three for the first time though his net worth declined 6per cent to USD27.6 billion.
Another year of bumper profits from Covid-19 vaccines pushed up India's vaccine baron Cyrus Poonawalla to fourth place with a fortune of USD21.5 billion. Rounding out the top five is Shiv Nadar of software giant HCL Technologies with a net worth of USD21.4 billion, down by USD9.6 billion from the year before.
Naazneen Karmali, Asia Wealth Editor and India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: "India's post-pandemic recovery story is one of opportunities created by a resurgence in domestic demand amid challenges from external factors. Gautam Adani's remarkable ascendancy to the top spot and the addition of so many newcomers to the 100 richest ranks this year, epitomize the country's entrepreneurial spirit."
