NE BUSINESS BUREAU
MUMBAI, FEB 27
India added more than three dollar billionaires every month in 2019, taking the tally to 138 that has helped the country to feature at the third position globally, says a report. China and the US occupied the first and second spot with 799 and 626 billionaires, respectively.
In total, India got 34 new billionaires to take the count to 138 on the list, topped by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries with $67 billion in net worth, minting Rs 7 crore every hour, and the number jumps to 170 if Indian-origin billionaires outside the country are tallied.
According to the ninth edition of the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, which has a list of 2,817 individuals across the globe having a net worth of $1 billion or more, the world has added 480 billionaires in 2019, more than one a day, while China added more than three a week and India did more than three billionaires a month.
However, according to the report, with 799 China is home to more billionaires than the US (626) and India combined and is set to add many more pharma billionaires this year as the communist nation fights a deadly coronavirus epidemic that has already killed more than 2,710 people since mid-January.
There is no surprise that Mumbai is the home to more than a third of the richest individuals in the country with 50 of them living in the megapolis, making it the ninth richest city globally, followed by New Delhi with 30, Bengaluru with 17 and Ahmedabad with 12.
With $67 billion, Ambani is also the ninth richest in the world which is topped by Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $140 billion.
The second in the list is SP Hinduja family ($27 billion), Gautam Adani (a little over $17 billion), Shiv Nadar & family (close to $17 billion), and Lakshmi Mittal with over $15 billion in net worth.
At the sixth lot is banker Uday Kotak with a net worth of around $15 billion, making him the richest self-made banker in the whole world.
At the seventh slot is Azim Premji with ($14 billion), followed by Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute ($12 billion) and Cyrus Pallonji Mistry and his son Shapoor Pallonji with $11 billion each.
And Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal, all of just 24 years, is the youngest Indian in the rich list with a net worth of $1.1 billion.
Hurun Report India managing director Anas Rahman Junaid said the Indian billionaires are defying gravity as the deepening slowdown does not seem to hamper their growth.
It can be noted that 2019 was a good year for the stock markets globally with the US bourses rallying 26 per cent and Indian and Chinese indices gaining 15 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively in the year.
The 50 billionaires of Mumbai control around $218 billion of wealth between them, followed by 30 in New Delhi holding $76 billion and 17 in Bengaluru are worth $42 billion, while the 12 in Ahmedabad are worth $36 billion and the seven in Hyderabad are worth $13 billion, according to Junaid.
