Mumbai: Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has broken into the top 10 richest list globally with a networth of USD 54 billion, as per the Hurun Global Rich List 2019.
The list is topped by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos for the second year in a row, while the senior Ambani is placed 8th with a network of Rs 3.83 lakh crore.
Ambani owns almost 52 percent in Reliance.
“The only Asian in the Top 10, Ambani’s wealth is based on telecom, retail and energy, and bucked the poor stock market trend in India in the last year. Ambani’s flagship Reliance Jio Infocomm announced the launch of international roaming between India and Japan, a first for India’s 4G mobile operators to provide VoLTE-based international roaming services in India. The company expanded its investment in the Entertainment sector with acquisitions worth US$700mn in Hathway and Den,” Hurun wrote in its report.
The Hurun study also found that India dropped to 5th spot with 104 billionaires, 28 less than last year. “Pharmaceuticals, TMT and FMCG led the way, with 18, 15 and 10 billionaires each. Mumbai and New Delhi are the billionaire capitals of the country with 42 and 25 finding residence there,” it said.
Bezos of Amazon tops the list for the second consecutive year with networth of USD 147 billion, which may not hold for long as he is divorcing his wife who owns half of his 16 percent in the world’s largest online retailer.
As per the report, the number of individuals featured in the 2019 edition has come down by 224 to 2,470 from 2,694 in 2018.
The cumulative wealth of these 2,470 individuals stood at USD 9.5 trillion amounting to 12 percent of global GDP.
With a wealth of USD 96 billion, Microsoft founder Bill Gates ranks second in the global list followed by Warren Buffet, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway with networth of USD 88 billion, LVMH’s Bernard Arnault at USD 86 billion at the fourth slot.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg with networth of USD 80 billion is at the fifth position.
The other wealthiest Indians are Hinduja group chairman SP Hinduja with networth of USD 21 billion, Wipro chairman Azim Premji is at third with a networth of USD 17 billion. Cyrus S Poonawalla, chairman of the Poonawalla group that run Serum Institute, with a networth of USD 13 billion is not only ranked as the fourth richest Indian but also breaks into the top 100 global ranking.
Steel giant ArcelorMittal’s Lakshmi Mittal stands at fifth position, followed by Kotak Mahindra’s Uday Kotak (USD 11 billion), Gautam Adani (USD 9.9 billion) and Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi (USD 9.5 billion).
Cyrus Pallonji Mistry and Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, both with wealth of USD 9.5 billion each come in the ninth and the 10th position, respectively, thanks to their 18.4 percent holding in the country’s largest conglomerate Tata group.
According to the list, Smita Crishna, a third- generation heir of the Godrej family, tops the female billionaire list with a networth of USD 6.1 billion, while Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon is the richest self-made female entrepreneur ranked 671 with a wealth of USD 3.5 billion.
Bureau Report
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