Updated: September 29, 2020 8:45:23 pm
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries. (Source: Reuters)
Mukesh Ambani gained Rs 90 crore per hour since the coronavirus lockdown in March, thus retaining his position as the richest Indian for the ninth consecutive year on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020.
Ambani, who is the only Indian in the world’s top 5 richest persons, amassed Rs 2,77,700 crore through a series of fund-raising and strategic investment from Facebook, Google, Silver Lake among others into Jio and Reliance Retail, taking his personal wealth to Rs 6,58,400 crore.
Ambani’s total wealth, which is now bigger than the combined wealth of the next five in the list, making him Aisa’s richest individual and fourth richest man across the world, according to the report.
The IIFL Hurun India list names the richest individuals in the country having a wealth of Rs 1,000 crore or more. This year, the list names 828 Indians, where 627 increased their wealth and 162 are new entrants. Top 100 individuals in the list account for nearly 64 per cent wealth of the list.
MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India, Anas Rahman Junaid, said, “28 per cent of the upswing in wealth on the list has been bestowed by Mukesh Ambani, bespeaking Ambani’s meteoric success post diversifying from oil to telecom and retail. A further 21 per cent of the additional wealth has been generated by pharma, mainly on the back of the rise in healthcare spends and a realigned priority towards personal healthcare stimulated by the Covid-19.”
Source: Hurun Research Institute; IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020
“With rising new wealth creators such as innovative startups, family businesses with strong professional management, investors who believe in the India story, and a demographic advantage that is inferior to none, India’s wealth creation story is still yet to reach the half-way mark,” he added.
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London-based Hinduja brothers, with a joint wealth of Rs 1,43,700 crore, bagged the second spot. HCL founder Shiv Nadar with Rs 1,41,700 crore is ranked third, followed by Adani’s Group’s Gautam Adani at fourth and Wipro’s Azim Premji at fifth spot.
Avenue Supermarts founder Radhakishan Damani made his debut to the top 10, positioned at the seventh place.
The cumulative value of the 828 individuals on the list stood at $821 billion (Rs 60,59,500 crore), an increase of $140 billion (Rs 10,29,400 cr) over the 2019 count.
Backed by stellar IPO, Happiest Minds founder Ashok Soota, 77, debuted on the list with a wealth of Rs 3,700 crore.
Nearly 5 per cent of the list (40 individuals) are women; and 10 of them are self-made. Smitha V Crishna, third-generation heir of the Godrej Empire, ranked as the richest woman in the list followed by Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. Crishna’s personal wealth stood at Rs 32,400 crore while Shaw’s at Rs 31,600 crore.
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