Forbes claims Mukesh Ambani added $4.1 billion to his net worth as Jio becomes one of India’s biggest mobile carriers.
New Delhi| Chairman of Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani bagged the first place on Forbes India Rich List 2019 for the 12th consecutive year with Net Worth of $51.4 billion.
“He added $4.1 billion to his net worth as Jio, the three-year-old telecom unit of his Reliance Industries, became one of India’s biggest mobile carriers with 340 million subscribers,” Forbes said.
A “challenging year for the nation’s wealthies” because of the economic slowdown, spelt an 8 per cent fall in the total wealth of the tycoons on the 2019 list, amounting to $452 billion.
Forbes added, “In all, 14 were poorer by $1 billion or more, and nine members from last year’s ranks dropped off. More than a third of that decline was due to the remarkable largesse of tech tycoon Azim Premji, who gave away a chunk of his fortune in March and consequently dropped in the ranks to No. 17 from No. 2”.
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The second spot on the list, however, is bagged by Gautam Adani the chairman of the Adani group with an increase in his net worth by $15.7 billion. He rises from the eighth spot to second after a nine-year wait. Adani secured permission in June to start work on an Australian coal mine. He has also ventured into a slew of new businesses from airports to data centers.
In the list after the top ranks are Ashok Leyland owners Hinduja brothers, Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Pallonji Mistry, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Uday Kotak, and HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar.
A $4 billion boost had propelled Uday Kotak into the top five for the first time.
Six newcomers have made their debut including Byju Raveendran (no. 72, $1.91 billion), Manohar Lal and Madhusudan Agarwal (No. 86, $1.7 billion) of Delhi-headquartered Haldiram Snacks and Rajesh Mehra (no. 95, $1.5 billion) of Jaquar.
Meanwhile, Autoparts maker Vivek Chaand Sehgal’s net worth more than halved to $2.45 billion given the drastic slowdown in the automobile industry.
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