Chennai: Chennaiites can take heart. Their manufacturing and IT hub city is handily placed near the top of the rich people list of cities of the world with 385 billionaires, including media baron Kalanithi Maran, head of India's top tractor maker (Tafe), Mallika Srinivasan, the third richest businesswoman in India and the corporate healthcare pioneer Prathap Reddy.
While media baron Kalanithi Maran continues to top the Chennai list with a wealth of Rs 13,000 crore, there are a few other businessmen from Tamil Nadu whose names are figuring on the list for the first time, like G.S.K. Velu of Trivitron Healthcare and A.M. Arun, chairman of Vasan Eye Care. According to the report released by Wealth-X, an ultra high net worth (UNHW) intelligence provider and UBS, a global financial services firm, the number of ultra high net worth individuals (billionaires) in Chennai increased from 370 in 2012 to 385 last year registering an increase of 4.1 per cent.
According to the report released by Wealth-X, an ultra high net worth UNHW) intelligence provider and UBS, a global financial services firm, on Wednesday, the number of billionaires in the country may have decreased over the last year (103 billionaires in 2013), but India still remains in the sixth position among the top 10 countries. Of course, Mumbai and Delhi dominate with more than 50 per cent of the country’s UNHW population based in one of these twocities.
Meanwhile, the Hurun Report, a luxury publishing and events group in its report ranked Chennai in the seventh slot in the ranking of world cities with billionaires next to Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Dubai, Ahmedabad and Pune. On the other hand, the number of rich individuals dropped from four per cent last year to three per cent this year.
The 55-year-old chairman and CEO of the Chennai-based Tafe Group, Mallika Srinivasan is the third richest women in India with a wealth of Rs 7,200 crore. The creme de la creme of Chennai on the rich list includes Kalanithi Maran (42nd All-India rank), Mallika Srinivasan (91), AMM Velayyan & family (96), Dr Prathap Reddy (104), KM Mammen and family (142), M.A.M. Ramaswamy and family (189), G.S.K.Velu (197) and Reji Abraham and family (203).
