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A Record 90 Indians On Forbes Billionaires List 2015

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India’s rich are riding high on prime minister Narendra Modi’s electoral promise of “good times.” A record 90 Indians with a combined net worth of $295 billion, feature in Forbes Billionaires List 2015, of which 28 make their appearance for the first time. While the top 5 richest Indians remain the same as last year, their pecking order has changed somewhat.

Mukesh Ambani holds the spot as the richest Indian with a fortune of $21 billion, but steel baron Lakshmi Mittal finds himself demoted from second place to No.5 as shares of his Arcelor Mittal fell amid a rough year for commodities. Mittal, who lives in London, is poorer by $3.2 billion since last year and $17.6 billion since 2011.

The new number 2 and this year’s biggest gainer among Indians, is pharma tycoon Dilip Shanghvi with $20 billion. His generic-drug maker Sun Pharmaceuticals saw its shares soar after it acquired local rival Ranbaxy Laboraties for $4 billion. Shanghvi, who has since announced his first major move outside pharma into wind energy by striking a deal to pick up a 23% stake in debt-laden firm Suzlon, is closing in on Ambani. (Some enthusiastic reports in local media have prematurely crowned Shanghvi as India’s richest)

India’s rising economic tide-the stockmarket is up more than 40% since our 2014 list-has lifted the fortunes of 49 of the 54 returnees to the ranks this year. A notable ascent is that of billionaire banker Uday Kotak who breaks into the top 10 ranks of India’s richest for the first time with $7.2 billion. Kotak got a boost after his Kotak Mahindra Bank bought local rival ING Vysya Bank, from the Dutch ING Group.

As many as 19 people added more than $1 billion to their wealth since last year. Among the big gainers is ports tycoon Gautam Adani whose closeness to prime minister Narendra Modi, a fellow Gujarati, sent shares of his companies soaring in 2014. Motorcycle magnate Vikram Lal too roared ahead, adding close to $3 billion to his net worth from a year ago, as his Royal Enfield cult bikes continued to sell amid an industry-wide slump.

The group of 28 newcomers includes several people who feature in the India Rich List rankings but have made the World Billionaires cut for the first time. These include the Dhingra brothers of Berger Paints and best buddies Radhe Shyam Agarwal and Radhe Shyam Goenka, co-founders of consumer goods outfit Emami, who coincidentally share the same first and second names.

This year, four members of the storied Burman clan whose Dabur was founded to make ayurvedic medicines in 1884, make their debut as we got new information on their individual holdings. Newcomer Vinod Gupta is the wife of Qimat Rai Gupta, founder of electrical equipment firm Havells, who died last November.

India’s newest billionaires include Achal Bakeri, son of a property magnate, who started making air coolers in 1988 at a time when middle class Indians couldn’t afford air conditioners. His Symphony now sells close to a million units around the world. Real estate magnate Subhash Runwal who migrated to Mumbai from a small town with less than $2 in his pocket, became a billionaire from building affordable apartments for the city’s suburban middle class.