Notwithstanding the economic slowdown and the pandemic, India’s rich list is growing, thanks to the boom in stock markets. For the first time, there are over 1,000 individuals with a net worth of over ₹1,000 crore on the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021.

Cumulative wealth is up 51 per cent, while average wealth increased by 25 per cent. India has 237 billionaires, up 58 compared to last year. While the chemicals and software sectors added the greatest number of new entrants to the list, pharma is still at the top, and has contributed 130 entrants to the list. The youngest in the list is aged 23, three years younger than the youngest last year.

With an asset of ₹7.18-lakh crore, Mukesh Ambani remained the richest Indian for the 10th year in a row. Gautam Adani and his family, with an asset of ₹5.06-lakh crore, occupied the second position, earning ₹1,000 crore a day in the last one year.

Shiv Nadar of HCL retained the third rank, as HCL’s limited exposure to Covid-affected segments such as travel, retail and hospitality, resulted in a 67 per cent increase in his wealth to ₹2.37-lakh crore.

New faces

Aided by the sharp spike in metal prices, steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal of ArcelorMittal, and Kumar Mangalam Birla, were the new faces in the top-10.

The 10th position in the list was secured by Jay Chaudhry of cloud security company, Zscaler. The Himachal Pradesh-born IIT alumni founded the cyber-security firm in 2007, and currently owns 42 per cent of the Nasdaq-listed firm, which has a market cap of ₹2.81-lakh crore.

Boosted by the bumper IPO, Deepinder Goyal, CEO, Zomato, saw his wealth increase 164 per cent to ₹5,800 crore. Karan Bhagat, Founder, MD & CEO, IIFL Wealth, said the rising wealth creation is a reflection of the robust foundation of the Indian businesses and the confidence they command from their respective stakeholders.

The number of billionaires living in Mumbai increased by 52 to 255, followed by New Delhi (167) and Bengaluru (85), while Chennai overtook Ahmedabad for the fifth spot.

Women on the list

The number of women on the list is 47 this year, up from five 10 years ago. The youngest wealth creator 10 years ago was 37 and today is 23, indicating the impact of the start-up, said Bhagat. The inclusion of Tier 2 cities such as Pune, Rajkot, Surat, Faridabad and Ludhiana in the top 20, is also a notable factor.

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