Reuters/Amit Dave
- CEOWORLD Magazine recently published its “India Rich List for 2018,” which ranks the wealthiest individuals in the world’s fastest-growing economy.
- The majority of top 10 are self-made billionaires who built empires in software services, pharmaceuticals, and finance. A few of them inherited stakes in their families’ companies.
- Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries tops the list with a net worth of $47.8 billion.
Thanks to India’s booming economy, the fastest-growing major economy in the world, there has been a meteoric rise in the wealth of the country’s elites and business owners. Once dominated by prominent business families like the Tatas, Birlas, or Ambanis, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of self-made billionaires.
CEOWORLD magazine recently published its “India Rich List for 2018,” which is made up mostly of self-made billionaires who have built empires in software services, pharmaceuticals, finance, metals, and energy.
With a wealth of $47.8 billion, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, has cemented his position as being India’s richest person.
Take a look at who else made it into the top 10 spots this year:
10. Savitri Jindal
Savitri Jindal is the chairperson of Jindal Group and the widow of its founder, Om Prakash Jindal. Upon his tragic death in a helicopter crash in 2005, the group’s companies — which include JSW Steel, JSW Energy, JSW Infrastructure and Jindal Steel & Power — were divided among her four sons.
Net Worth: $8.2 billion
Age: 68
Industry: Steel
Source of wealth: Widow of founder Om Prakash Jindal
9. Cyrus Poonawalla
Reuters / Bazuki Muhammad
In 1966, Cyrus Poonawalla founded Serum Institute of India and built it into one of the world’s largest vaccine makers. Poonawalla is the son of a horse breeder.
Net Worth: $8.3 billion
Age: 73
Industry: Vaccine
Source of wealth: Self-made
8. Uday Kotak
After turning down a lucrative job offer from Hindustan Unilever (the India unit of Unilever) after his MBA, Uday Kotak started his own finance firm in 1985. He then converted it into Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2003. Now it is among India’s top four banks in the private sector.
Net Worth: $10.5 billion
Age: 59
Industry: Banking
Source of wealth: Self-made
7. Radhakishan Damani
In 2002, Mumbai-based investor Radhakishan Damani ventured into retail with one suburban store. After a successful IPO in 2017, his supermarket chain Dmart remains unscathed by the wave of e-commerce in India.
Net Worth: $10.9 billion
Age: 63
Industry: Retail and investments
Source of wealth: Self-made
6. Dilip Shanghvi
In 1983, Dilip Shanghvi borrowed $200 from his father to start Sun Pharmaceutical. Now, the company is the world’s fourth-largest specialty-generics maker.
Net Worth: $11.9 billion
Age: 62
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Source of wealth: Self-made
5. Kumar Birla
Kumar Birla is the chairman of Aditya Birla Group, one of India’s most valuable conglomerates. At the age of 28, he inherited the family empire when his father Aditya Birla died.
Net Worth: $14.8 billion
Age: 51
Industry: Commodities, telecom, and financial services
Source of wealth: Inherited
4. Shiv Nadar
In 1976, Shiv Nadar cofounded HCL, in a garage, to make microprocessors. Now, the company is India’s fourth-largest software-service provider.
Net Worth: $14.8 billion
Age: 68
Industry: Software service
Source of wealth: Self-made
3. Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Mittal is chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker. In 2006, he merged Mittal Steel with France’s Arcelor in a $33 billion deal.
Net Worth: $18.1 billion
Age: 68
Industry: Steel
Source of wealth: Inheritance and self-made.
2. Azim Premji
Azim Premji is the chairman of Wipro, India’s third-largest software-service provider. He returned from Stanford University in 1966 and took over his family’s cooking-oil business when his father died. He later expanded it into software.
Net Worth: $20.9 billion
Age: 73
Industry: Software services
Source of wealth: Self-made
1. Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani is chairman and the largest shareholder of oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries. The company was founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966 as a textile manufacturer. In 2016, he revolutionized India’s telecom sector with cheap mobile data and calling services. The company offers data plans starting at 50 rupees ($0.70) per gigabyte and monthly plans as low as 149 rupees ($2).
Net Worth: $47.8 billion
Age: 61
Industry: Oil & gas, telecom, retail, petrochemicals, textiles and telecom
Source of wealth: Inheritance and self-made
