A weak economy and falling rupee took their toll on the wealth of Indian billionaires this year. The country has 56 billionaires in all with a collective net worth of $191.5 billion which is a tad lower than last year’s haul of 55 names worth $193.6 billion. Overall the year has seen some dramatic wins and losses. (View them here)
Worth $43 billion in 2008, when he was the world's fifth richest person Mukesh Ambani has seen a steep decline in his wealth since. This year, it's down by $2.9 billion though he hangs on to his perch as India's richest with $18.6 billion. Ambani has been more in the news for controversies linked to his
Among those with evaporating fortunes are brothers Shashi & Ravi Ruia, this year’s biggest dollar losers , down by $3.6 billion as shares of their London-listed
Muscling his way into the top handful is tech tycoon Shiv Nadar. While Azim Premji is still India’s richest tech billionaire and his wealth is up by $4.1 billion after he spun off Wipro’s non-IT business, Nadar’s ascent has been dramatic. He’s this year’s biggest dollar gainer among Indians, having added $4.6 billion to his fortune, on a jump in shares of HCL Technologies. Nadar recently denied a report that he was mulling selling out from the company.
Overall, tech fortunes have fared better in 2014 and so have those from the pharma sector. It was a stellar year for Dilip Shanghvi who started selling psychiatric drugs in 1983 and is now the country’s richest medicine man; he’s up by $3.4 billion. Not far from Sun’s Mumbai headquarters in Pune is India’s vaccines man Cyrus Poonawalla who is among the half a dozen people who added at least $1 billion to their pile. His Serum Institute makes one billion doses annually, impressing visitors such as Bill Gates and Prince Charles.
The western state of Maharashtra remains India’s richest region-it has 22 billionaires-but Delhi is fast catching up; the capital is home to 15 billionaires. But given India’s dull economy, it is no surprise that 3 of the 5 Indian newcomers to the list made their wealth elsewhere. The Middle East has become a fertile breeding ground for expatriate wealth such as that of education entrepreneur Sunny Varkey who debuts on the list along with construction magnate Ravi Pillai. Both hail from Kerala state and are investing back home. Varkey has opened branches of his GEMS schools while Pillai has picked up stakes in hotels and banks.
Two other newcomers are somehow flourishing against the odds at home:motorcycle magnate Vikram Lal who makes the Royal Enfield cult bike saw shares of his Eicher Motors jump by 64% in the past year, making him a billionaire. Enfield's Chennai factory has been making bikes since 1955. Tractor tycoon Lachhman Das Mittal of the Sonalika Group which counts Blackstone among its investors, benefited from a good monsoon to make his debut. While his three sons help him run the business, at age 83 Mittal still puts in a full day at the office.
