India: Where did all the billionaires go?

Sorry to report sad net worth news, but billionaires in the BRICS did not have a bullish 2011. Especially India.

According to the Wall Street Journal and data from ET Intelligence Group, India now has just 40 billionaires, down from 60 in 2010. An amazing fall in individual economic power.

Stock market declines and cyclical macroeconomic conditions are the main drivers behind the decline.

For example, India's wealthiest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, saw his worth drop to $16.8 billion from $20.8 billion in 2010.

India remains billionaire friendly

India’s billionaire list doubles


Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is once again the wealthiest person in India. The net worth of the promoter of the largest listed Indian company is put at $32 billion, an increase of 54 per cent from nearly $21 billion last year, according to a Forbes report.

“Trailing behind him are Lakshmi Mittal (Arcelor Mittal) with a net worth of $30 billion, up 46 per cent from $20.5 billion, and Mukesh’s estranged brother, Anil Ambani, whose net worth of $17.5 billion, 40 per cent, higher than before, put him in third place,” it said. A rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6 per cent have boosted the net worth of India's richest people. The combined net worth of India’s 100 richest people is $276 billion, almost a quarter of the country’s GDP.

“Last year, there were only 27 billionaires on the India Rich List. This year, the number has almost doubled to 52 — just two short of what India had at the peak of the stock market boom in 2007,” according to the Forbes report.

article