Industrialist Mukesh Ambani, who has been named India’s richest person for the ninth year in a row with a sharp increase in net worth to $22.7 billion, has fortune that is equal to Estonia’s GDP, says Forbes India.
Similarly, Wipro’s Azim Premji – the fourth richest Indian on the Forbes list – has a net worth of $15 billion, which is more than Mozambique’s GDP of $14.7 billion.
Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi is the second richest with a wealth of $16.9 billion, while the Hinduja family moved up to the third position ($15.2 billion) on the annual list of India’s 100 Richest People.
With a wealth of $13.90 billion, Pallonji Mistry is the fifth richest Indian on the list.
According to magazine, the total wealth of India’s top five billionaires, which stands at a whopping $83.7 billion, is more than the cost of 1,230 Mars Orbiter ‘Mangalyaan’ Missions and is more than 18 times the cost of hosting the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Much of the wealth is accumulated in the top half of the ‘Richie Rich’ league, Forbes said, adding that if the ’80-20 rule’ is applied to the list, it indicates a ‘trickling down’ of fortunes to the lower order.
“The 80-20 rule, when applied to the rich list, should translate to the top 20 billionaires accounting for 80 per cent of the wealth. However, the share of the top 20 in overall wealth has steadily eroded from 70 per cent in 2009 to 52 per cent in 2016, indicating a trickling down of fortunes to the lower order,” the business magazine added.
According to the list, the total wealth of the 100 richest stood at $381 billion, up 10 per cent from $345 billion in 2015. Since 2014, all the richest Indians have been billionaires instead of some millionaires earlier.
