India's 100 richest includes only four women

Singapore: The Forbes list of 100 richest Indians this year features four women, including O P Jindal group chairperson Savitri Jindal and Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Anu Aga of Thermax group and and Indu Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Co are the other two women in the list.

The four women have a collective wealth of USD 11.3 billion and account for a little over three per cent of the total networth of all in the coveted list whose collective wealth amount to USD 346 billion.

Jindal has retained the tag of being the richest woman in India with a networth of USD 6.4 billion, according to the annual India rich list compiled by business magazine Forbes. "After a three-year decline Savitri Jindal's O P Jindal group, which she chairs, has revived, mostly due to moves by Mumbai-based son Sajjan," Forbes said.

Jindal is ranked 12th in the list, which is topped by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani with a fortune of USD 23.6 billion.

She is followed by Jain, who was ranked 31st with a networth of USD 2.6 billion.

Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Anu Aga of Thermax group have been ranked at 81 and 94 with a networth of USD 1.2 billion and USD 1.1 billion, respectively.

"Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon, India's largest listed biopharma firm and maker of drugs for diseases such as cancer and diabetes, aims to more than double its revenues to USD 1 billion by 2018," Forbes said, adding that "she was awarded the Global Economy Prize by Germany's Kiel institute in June."

On Anu Aga, Forbes said she has regained her "billionaire status" on jump in shares of engineering firm Thermax, in which she owns 62 per cent with family.

Since last year all the four women have been witnessing a spurt in their fortune. Savitri Jindal's networth increasing by USD 1.5 billion, for Indu Jain it was USD 700 million, for Kiran Mazumdar Shaw it stood at USD 545 million and for Anu Aga it was USD 370 million.