101 Indians on Forbes billionaires list

NEW DELHI: The Bull Run in Indian stock market has helped Indian billionaires expand their fortunes even as 17 new faces have made it to the 2017 Forbes World’s Billionaires List, taking the total number to 101 from 84 last year.

The combined net worth of Indian billionaires on the list is $325.5 billion, or an average of $3.22 billion. The list includes: Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $23.2 billion, Lakshmi Mittal worth $16.4 billion, at rank 56; Azim Premji is ranked 72 ($14.9 billion); Dilip Shanghvi is ranked 84 ($13.7 billion) and Shiv Nadar is at 102 ($12.3 billion). Youngest Indian on the list is 38-year-old Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma with a net worth of $1.3 billion, followed by Shamsheer Vayalil, 40-year-old founder of VPS Healthcare, a network of hospitals.

Another young entrant on the list is Acharya Balkrishna, 44-year-old friend of Baba Ramdev. Balkrishna holds 97% in Patanjali Ayurved and at $2.5 billion his wealth is 92% more than Sharma’s. There are only four Indian women on the list – JSW Steel’s Savitri Jindal ($5.2 billion), Godrej group’s Smita Crishna-Godrej ($2.5 billion), Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw ($2.1 billion), and USV India’s Leena Tewari ($2 billion).