India has 36 billionaire ministers, Karnataka tops the list: Report

A report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has revealed that 36 out of 643 ministers in India are billionaires.

The non-profit organisation analysed the assets of 643 ministers from state, Union Territories Assemblies and Union Council and discovered that 6 per cent are billionaires. The total assets of 643 ministers are Rs 23,929 crores.

Party-wise billionaires

Party-wise, BJP has the highest number of billionaire ministers at 14, which accounts for 4 per cent of the total number of ministers the party has. The Congress ranked second, with 11 of its 61 ministers (18 per cent) being billionaires, while the TDP had 6 billionaire ministers among its 23 (26 per cent).

The Aam Aadmi Party, Janasena Party, JD(S), NCP and Shiv Sena also have billionaire ministers.

The richest minister in the country is TDP's Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani. He has declared assets worth over Rs 5,705 crore and represents Andhra Pradesh's Guntur in the Lok Sabha.

This is followed by Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar who has assets exceeding Rs 1,413 crore while Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has assets worth over Rs 931 crore and carries the moniker of the 'Richest Chief Minister'.

Other rich ministers in the top 10 include Narayana Ponguru and Nara Lokesh from Andhra Pradesh, Gaddam Vivekanand and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy from Telangana, Suresha B S from Karnataka, Mangal Prabhat Lodha from Maharashtra, and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

State wise billionaires

Karnataka leads with the highest number of billionaire ministers with 8, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 6 and Maharashtra with 4 billionaire ministers.

Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Telangana have 2 each, while Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have 1 each.