India has 169 billionaires, third highest in the world

LAHORE: India has 169 billionaires — third highest in the world — but their total net worth is $75 billion less than what it was last year, largely due to fraud allegations against the Adani Group owner, Gautam.

In its very recent April 4 report, Forbes writes: “The majority of that decline comes from one high-profile saga: the stock rout of companies in the Adani Group, following a January report of fraud allegations by short-seller Hindenburg Research (allegations the Adani Group has denied).”

The renowned journal reported: “There are a record number of Indians on Forbes’ 2023 list of the World’s Billionaires — 169 in all, up from 166 last year. But their combined wealth faced a reality check, dropping 10% to $675 billion – down from $750 billion on the 2022 list. The majority of that decline comes from one high-profile saga: the stock rout of companies in the Adani Group, following a January report of fraud allegations by short-seller Hindenburg Research (allegations the Adani Group has denied). The stock slide nearly halved the net worth of Gautam Adani to $47.2 billion, down from $90 billion last year.”

It maintains: “The infrastructure and commodities tycoon (Adani), who briefly became the world’s second richest person last September and was the world’s third richest person for most of January, slipped to No24 globally. He is now India’s second wealthiest citizen. Though the fortunes of India’s other top ten richest didn’t shrink nearly as much as Adani’s did, the overall movement was downward. Except for pharma billionaire Dilip Shanghvi, whose fortune is unchanged since last year, the rest of the country’s top 10 have seen their wealth erode. The respective net-worths for the 2023 list were calculated using stock prices and exchange rates from March 10, 2023.”

Forbes writes: “Despite an 8% decline in his wealth over the past year, Mukesh Ambani retained his position as both India’s and Asia’s richest person — and is the ninth richest person in the world — with a net worth of $83.4 billion. Annual revenue of his Reliance Industries crossed $100 billion for the first time in the fiscal year through March 2022. Ambani, 65, has his eye on succession, giving key roles in different businesses to each of his three children: Akash (telecom), Isha (retail) and Anant (green energy).”

According to this media outlet, here are India’s 10 richest people as of March 31, 2023: Mukesh Ambani (Net worth: $83.4 Billion | Source of wealth: Diversified | City: Mumbai), Gautam Adani (Net worth: $47.2 Billion | Source of wealth: Infrastructure | City: Ahmedabad), Shiv Nadar (Net worth: $25.6 Billion | Source of wealth: Software Services | City: Delhi), Cyrus Poonawalla (Net worth: $22.6 Billion | Source of wealth: Vaccines | City: Pune), Lakshmi Mittal (Net worth: $17.7 Billion | Source of wealth: Steel | City: London), Savitri Jindal (Net worth: $17.5 Billion | Source of wealth: Steel | City: Hisar), Dilip Shanghvi (Net worth: $15.6 Billion | Source of wealth: Pharmaceuticals | City: Mumbai); Radhakishan Damani (Net worth: $15.3 Billion | Source of wealth: Retail, Investments | City: Mumbai), Kumar Birla (Net worth: $14.2 Billion | Source of wealth: Commodities | City: Mumbai) and Uday Kotak (Net worth: $12.9 Billion | Source of wealth: Banking | City: Mumbai).