Mukesh Ambani reclaims top spot on Forbes 'India’s 100 Richest' list

In a dramatic shift at the top of the pecking order, Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman Mukesh Ambani has reclaimed the No 1 position on the 2023 Forbes list of 'India’s 100 Richest', after losing the spot to Adani last year.

The collective wealth of India’s 100 Richest was flat at $799 billion this year. 

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, who had meteorically risen to overtake Ambani as India’s richest person for the first time last year, has slipped back into the second place.

Ambani, who transformed his Reliance Industries into a diversified conglomerate, has a net worth of $92 billion.

Shortly after listing Jio Financial Services, which has an asset management joint venture with BlackRock, Ambani cemented his succession plan by appointing his three children to Reliance’s board as non-executive directors in August.

The net worth of Adani and his family, who are infrastructure giants, fell by a whopping $82 billion to $68 billion as shares tumbled because of the Hindenburg Research report.

Software tycoon Shiv Nadar climbed two spots to return to No 3 with a fortune of $29.3 billion, as shares of HCL Technologies jumped 42 per cent in the past year amid a tech rebound.

Matriarch Savitri Jindal of the O P Jindal Group, a power and steel conglomerate, ranks No 4 with $24 billion, up 46 per cent, thanks partly to the September IPO of ports unit JSW Infrastructure, by her son Sajjan Jindal.

Rounding off the top five is Radhakishan Damani of Avenue Supermarts, whose fortune declined to $23 billion from $27.6 billion previously.

In a press statement, Naazneen Karmali, Asia Wealth Editor and India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: “India is riding high and is considered a hot spot by global investors. That buoyancy has made the elite club of India’s 100 Richest even more exclusive this year, with the minimum net worth to make the cutoff rising to a record $2.3 billion.”

The biggest percentage gainer this year is Inder Jaisinghani at No 32 with $6.4 billion. His family’s net worth nearly doubled as his wires and cables company, Polycab India, benefited from increasing electrification.

Pharma brothers Ramesh and Rajeev Juneja got a handsome 64 per cent boost from the May listing of their Mankind Pharma, bringing them to No 29 with $6.9 billion. They also appeared on the cover of the October issue of Forbes Asia.

There are three new entrants this year: Renuka Jagtiani, Chairwoman of Landmark Group, a Dubai-headquartered retailing giant, entered the list at No 44 with $4.8 billion, following the passing of her husband Micky Jagtiani in May.

Also new to the list is the Dani family (No 22, $8 billion) of Asian Paints, heirs of patriarch Ashwin Dani, who died in September.

The third newcomer is garment exporter K P Ramasamy (No 100, $2.3 billion), founder and chairman of KPR Mill.