This is the 12th consecutive year that Ambani has topped the list despite being a ‘challenging year’ for the Indian economy, according to the American business magazine. Ambani’s wealth swelled to $51.4 billion this year.
Entrepreneur Gautam Adani secured the second position in the list after Mukesh Ambani. His assets have increased to $15.7 billion. Adani has improved 8 positions compared to the previous year.
Ashok Leyland owners Hinduja brothers came third with a net worth of $15.6 billion, Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Pallonji Mistry was on the fourth spot with a $15 billion net worth, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Uday Kotak ranked fifth with $14.8 billion net worth followed by HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar with a net worth of $14.4 billion.
This year also spelled an 8% drop in the total wealth of business tycoons on the Forbes’ 2019 list to $452 billion. It had been a “challenging year for the nation’s wealthies” owing to the economic slowdown.
The list also included six newcomers who made their debut this year comprising Byju Raveendran (no. 72, $1.91 billion), Manohar Lal and Madhusudan Agarwal (No. 86, $1.7 billion) of Delhi-headquartered Haldiram Snacks and Rajesh Mehra (no. 95, $1.5 billion) of Jaquar.