Indian business tycoon and chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani continues to be the richest person in the country, a spot he's held since 2008, with a net worth of $92.7 billion, reveals the Forbes List of 'The 100 Richest Indians 2021', published on Thursday.
Adding $4 billion to his wealth from 2020, Ambani is on an upward spiral as he recently outlined plans to pivot into renewable energy with a $10 billion Reliance Industries investment.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is one of the most profitable companies in India, which has diverse businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles.
Setting an all-time high record, billionaires listed in the Forbes List of 'The 100 Richest Indians 2021' witnessed a 50 percent gain to $775 billion in their cumulative wealth from last year.
Infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani ranks No. 2 for the third year in a row.
The soaring stock market shares of his company allowed Adani to nearly triple his fortune to $74.8 billion from $25.2 billion last year. It was reported that Adani is responsible for almost a fifth of the increase in the wealth of India’s 100 richest this year.
With a $31 billion net worth, the founder of software giant HCL Technologies, Shiv Nadar, ranks No. 3 and saw a $10.6 billion boost in his net worth.
He is followed by Radhakishan Damani with a net worth of $29.4 billion, nearly doubled his wealth in 2021.
Cyrus Poonawalla, the founder of Serum Institute of India (SII) and one of the world's largest vaccine makers, moved up a rank to No. 5 with a net worth of $19 billion.
Savitri Jindal broke into the top 10 club for the first time with a net worth of $18 billion, up from $6.6 billion a year ago.
Naazneen Karmali, the Asia Wealth Editor and India Editor of Forbes Asia, has said that this year's list reflects India's resilience and can-do spirit even as Covid-19 extracted a heavy toll on both lives and livelihoods.
Talking to Indian media, he said that hopes of a V-shaped recovery fuelled a stock market rally that propelled the fortunes of India's wealthiest to new heights. "With the minimum net worth to make the ranks approaching $2 billion, the top 100 clubs is getting more exclusive,” he added.
To make it to the Forbes List of 'The 100 Richest Indians 2021', one had to be at least $1.94 billion or richer, up from $1.33 billion last year, the report pointed out.
Owing to the higher cut-off, 11 listees from last year dropped off from this year's list, whereas six newcomers mostly hailing from the booming chemicals sector forayed into the Forbes list.