Mukesh Ambani Regains Top Spot on Forbes’ List of India’s 100 Richest
New Delhi, October 12 – In a significant shift in the hierarchy of India’s wealthiest, Mukesh Ambani has once again ascended to the No. 1 position on the 2023 Forbes list of India’s 100 Richest individuals.
This year, the collective wealth of India’s 100 Richest remained stagnant at $799 billion.
India recently basked in the limelight following its hosting of the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September, as well as achieving the distinction of becoming the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. As a testament to this national sentiment, India’s stock market saw a 14% rise since the last assessment of fortunes.
However, this surge, somewhat offset by a weaker rupee, did not translate to an overall increase in the collective net worth of India’s 100 Richest, which remained steady at $799 billion.
Mukesh Ambani, the visionary behind the transformation of Reliance Industries into a diversified conglomerate, reclaimed the No. 1 spot with a net worth of $92 billion. He solidified his succession plan by appointing his three children to Reliance’s board as non-executive directors in August, shortly after spinning off and listing Jio Financial Services, which maintains an asset management joint venture with BlackRock.
Gautam Adani, an infrastructure magnate who surged ahead of Ambani to become India’s wealthiest person for the first time last year, faced a stark reversal of fortune. This followed a report by US short seller Hindenburg Research in January, which triggered a significant drop in his group’s shares. Despite some recovery since, his net worth, including that of his family, plummeted by an astonishing $82 billion to $68 billion, making it the steepest drop in both dollar and percentage terms. Consequently, he slid back to second place.
Software tycoon Shiv Nadar climbed two spots to secure the No. 3 position with a fortune of $29.3 billion, driven by a 42% increase in shares of HCL Technologies in the past year amid a tech industry resurgence.
Matriarch Savitri Jindal, representing the O.P. Jindal Group, a power and steel conglomerate, ranks No. 4 with $24 billion, marking a 46% increase, partly attributed to the September IPO of ports unit JSW Infrastructure, led by her son Sajjan Jindal.
Completing the top five is Radhakishan Damani of Avenue Supermarts, whose fortune dipped to $23 billion from the previous $27.6 billion.
Naazneen Karmali, Asia Wealth Editor and India Editor of Forbes Asia, observed, “India is riding high and is considered a hot spot by global investors. That buoyancy has made the elite club of India’s 100 Richest even more exclusive this year, with the minimum net worth required to make the cutoff rising to a record $2.3 billion.”
The most significant percentage gainer this year is Inder Jaisinghani, holding the No. 32 spot with $6.4 billion. His family’s net worth nearly doubled as his wires and cables company, Polycab India, benefited from the increasing electrification.
Pharma brothers Ramesh and Rajeev Juneja experienced a substantial 64% boost from the May listing of their Mankind Pharma, elevating them to No. 29 with $6.9 billion.
Three newcomers graced the list this year: Renuka Jagtiani, chairwoman of Landmark Group, a Dubai-based retailing giant, entered at No. 44 with $4.8 billion, following the passing of her husband Micky Jagtiani in May. Also new to the list is the Dani family (No. 22, $8 billion) of Asian Paints, heirs of patriarch Ashwin Dani, who passed away in September. The third newcomer is garment exporter K.P. Ramasamy (No. 100, $2.3 billion), founder and chairman of K.P.R Mill.
Among the seven returnees this year is Ranjan Pai (No. 86, $2.75 billion), who cashed out $1 billion from selling part of his stake in hospital chain Manipal Health Enterprises to Singapore’s Temasek.
Notably, among the eight drop-offs are the ed tech couple Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, whose firm Byju’s witnessed a substantial devaluation amid a host of challenges.
