Gautam Adani Pips Mukesh Ambani As India’s Richest

Mumbai: India minted a new billionaire every five days last year bringing the total number of US dollar billionaires to over 300 for the first time. According to the 2024 Hurun India Rich List released on Thursday, India now has 334 billionaires, an increase of 75 compared to the previous year.

With a wealth of Rs 11.6 lakh crore, Gautam Adani (62) and his family who saw their wealth grow by 95 per cent clinched the no 1 spot surpassing Mukesh Ambani who had a wealth of Rs 10.14 lakh crore. Shiv Nadar & family of HCL Technologies was in third place this year with a wealth of Rs 3.14,000 lakh crore.

Other notable billionaires include vaccine king' Cyrus S Poonawalla, Dilip Sanghvi, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Hindujas, Radhakishan Damani, Azim Premji, and Niraj Bajaj.

The wealth calculations presented are based on the snapshot taken on July 31, 2024.

Home to 25 per cent of the list, Mumbai is not only the billionaire capital of Asia, overtaking Beijing but also the preferred city for Hurun India Rich Listers, followed by New Delhi and Hyderabad.

With 17 new entrants, Hyderabad surged past Bengaluru for the first time securing the third position in terms of the number of residents on the list.

Mumbai registered a net increase of 58 individuals, followed by New Delhi, which registered a net increase of 18. With 470 and 213 entrants respectively, Maharashtra and Delhi are the preferred states of residence for individuals in the 2024 Hurun India Rich List.

There are 1,539 individuals in India with a wealth of at least Rs 1,000 crore. When the threshold is raised to Rs 5,000 crore, the list narrows down to 534 high net worth individuals (HNIs). A wide range of wealth creators, including family-run businesses, startup founders, private equity investors, angel investors, next-generation leaders, and film stars found a place in the list.

Anas Rahman Junaid, Founder and Chief Researcher of Hurun India, said the country is "emerging as Asia's wealth creation engine!

He stated that India experienced a 29 per cent increase, even when China witnessed a 25 per cent decline in its number of billionaires.

The report also highlights that the cumulative wealth of India's richest individuals has risen by 46 per cent, with an average wealth increase of 25 per cent. "1,334 individuals saw their wealth increase or stay the same, of which 272 are new faces, whilst 205 saw their wealth drop and there were 45 dropouts.

Kaivalya Vohra, the 21-year-old co-founder of quick commerce delivery firm Zepto, is the youngest individual on the list, with an estimated wealth of Rs 3,600 crore. The youngest billionaires are Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, both 33 years old and founders of the payment solutions app Razorpay.

The new entrants included Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar, and Amitabh Bachchan. Silver Screen Titans in the 2024 Hurun India Rich List Shah Rukh Khan tops the list with Rs 7,300 crore, followed by Juhi Chawla and family with Rs 4,600 crore, thanks to their ventures in entertainment and sports.