India's richest 100 see dramatic changes in net worth this year
A dramatic change in the pecking order at the top kept collective wealth flat
After hosting the G20 Summit in New Delhi this September and becoming the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, India is on a high. Reflecting that sentiment, the stock market rose 14% since we last measured fortunes. But that jump, tempered by a weaker rupee, isn’t reflected in the collective net worth of India’s 100 Richest, which flatlined at $799 billion.
Check out the list: India's 100 Richest 2023
That leveling off was due to a dramatic shift in the pecking order at the top of the rankings. Mukesh Ambani, who transformed his Reliance Industries into a diversified conglomerate, reclaimed the No. 1 spot with a net worth of $92 billion. Shortly after spinning off and listing Jio Financial Services, which has an asset management joint venture with BlackRock, Ambani cemented his succession plan by appointing his three children to Reliance’s board as non-executive directors in August. (His wife, Nita, stepped down.)
The fortune of infrastructure magnate Gautam Adani, who rose meteorically to overtake Ambani as India’s richest person for the first time last year, reversed dramatically after a damaging report by U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research in January sent his group’s shares tumbling. (The group denied any wrongdoing.) Despite recovering somewhat since, his net worth, which includes that of his family, fell by a whopping $82 billion to $68 billion—down the most in both dollar and percentage terms—and he slipped back to No. 2.
Software tycoon Shiv Nadar climbed two spots to return to No. 3 as shares of HCL Technologies jumped 42% in the past year amid a tech rebound. Matriarch Savitri Jindal, of the O.P. Jindal Group, a power and steel conglomerate, is at No. 4 with $24 billion, up 46%, thanks partly to the September IPO of ports unit JSW Infrastructure by her hardcharging son Sajjan Jindal.
Last Updated :
October 12, 23 09:41:14 AM IST