NEW DELHI (TIP): Reliance Industries Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani on Thursday emerged as India’s wealthiest for the 10th straight year as his net worth swelled to $38 billion (nearly Rs 2.5 trillion) while the wealth of 100 richest rose by 26% despite economic hiccups.
Wipro’s Azim Premji was the distant second with a net worth of $19 billion, moving up two places from last year, while Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi slipped from his earlier second place to the ninth now ($12.1 billion) on Forbes magazine’s annual India Rich List 2017.
Forbes said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “economic experiments” barely affected India’s billionaires while none gained more than oil and gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani, who cemented his decade-long hold on the top slot by adding a staggering $15.3 billion (67%) to his last year’s wealth to become one of Asia’s top five richest.
Anil Ambani, Mukesh’s younger brother, was ranked much lower at 45th place with $3.15 billion. He was ranked 32nd in 2016 ($3.4 billion) and 29th a year before that. Patanjali Ayurved’s Acharya Balkrishna, known as a close associate of yoga guru Ramdev, made a big jump from 48th place last year to 19th now with a net worth of $6.55 billion (about Rs43,000 crore).