- Sunday, March 02, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Forbes released its annual world billionaires list for 2023 this week and it saw the number of Indians hitting a record high. There are 169 Indians on the list, three more from last year.
However, while more Indian billionaires made it to the list, their combined wealth saw a 10 per cent slump to $675 billion (£542.5 billion) from $750 billion (£602.8 billion) in 2022.
Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani continued to be the richest person of India and Asia and the ninth richest in the world. While others saw their shares taking a hit, none of that compared to Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group which has been rocked by a US short seller report.
Adani, who was the richest man in Asia not so long ago, saw a big slide in his wealth. India’s second richest billionaire after Ambani, Adani saw his net worth falling by almost half from $90 billion (£72.3 billion) last year to $47.2 billion (£37.9 billion), according to Forbes.
In January, Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of accounting fraud and stock manipulation which the latter vehemently denied. Adani, who became the world’s second richest person briefly last September and the third richest for most of January, has now fallen to the 24th position.
Ambani’s fortunes also saw a eight per cent dip compared to last year, but he is still the world’s ninth richest person.
His net worth totals $83.4 billion (£67 billion).
Software magnate Shiv Nadar continued as the third richest Indian even as his fortunes saw an 11 per cent fall from the past year. His net worth is $25.6 billion (£20.5 billion).
Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman and managing director of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group was at No.4. His fortunes are worth $22.6 billion (£18.1 billion) after his net worth fell seven per cent from 2022.
Keshub Mahindra, chairman emeritus of Mahindra & Mahindra Group and uncle of Anand Mahindra, returned to the Forbes list at the age of 99 to become the oldest Indian billionaire. Mahindra’s fortunes are worth $1.2 billion (£964.5 million).
The 2023 list saw 16 newcomers out of whom three were women. They are: Rekha Jhunjhunwala, widow of the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who passed last year, with a net worth of $5.1 billion (£4 billion); Rohiqa Cyrus Mistry, widow of former Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, who was killed in a road accident last September; and Saroj Rani Gupta, a self-made billionaire with a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes.
