For the ninth consecutive year on the Hurun India Rich 2020 list, Mukesh Ambani continues to be the richest Indian with Rs 6,58,400 crore of personal capital, most of which is derived from his stake in Reliance Industries. He is the only Indian on the world’s rich list to appear in the top 5.
As of August 31 , 2020, the Hurun India list lists the richest individuals in the country with a wealth of Rs 1,000 crore or more. The list had 828 Indians in the 2020 edition.
The London-based Hinduja brothers (SP Hinduja, along with their three brothers) took second place with a total wealth of Rs 1,43,700 crore. HCL founder Shiv Nadar ranked third with a wealth of Rs 1,41,700 crore, followed by Gautam Adani & family in fourth place and Azim Premji in fifth place with Wipro.
On the Hurun India Rich List 2020, Radhakishan Damani, founder of Avenue Supermarts, debuted in seventh position on the list of the top 10 richest people.
Other names in the Top 10 list included Cyrus S Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India, Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma, and Cyrus Pallonji Mistry and Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
The cumulative value of the 828 individuals on the list stood at $821 billion (Rs 60,59,500 crore), an increase of $140 billion (Rs 10,29,400 cr) over the 2019 count, a large part of which was due to the rise in share price of Reliance Industries.
“Twenty-eight per cent of the upswing in wealth on the list has been brought in by Mukesh Ambani, bespeaking Ambani’s meteoric success post diversifying from oil to telecom and retail. A further 21% of the additional wealth has been generated by pharma sector, mainly on the back of a rise in healthcare spends and a realigned priority towards personal healthcare stimulated by the Covid-19,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.
Smitha V Crishna, third-generation heir of the Godrej Empire, ranks as the richest woman in the list followed by Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
Nearly 5 per cent of the list (40 individuals) are women; and 10 of them are self-made. The personal wealth of Crishna stood at Rs 32,400 crore and that of Shaw at Rs 31,600 crore, who is also the richest self-made woman in India
Cyrus S Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India, Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma and Cyrus Pallonji Mistry and Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji Group were among other names in the Top 10 list.
The total value of the 828 individuals on the list stood at $821 billion (Rs 60,59,500 crore), an improvement over the 2019 figure of $140 billion (Rs 10,29,400 cr), most of which was attributed to the rise in Reliance Industries’ share price.
“Mukesh Ambani brought in twenty-eight percent of the rise in wealth on the list, referring to Ambani’s meteoric success after diversification from oil to telecom and retail. A further 21 percent of the additional wealth was generated by the pharmaceutical industry, primarily on the back of an increase in healthcare spending and a realigned focus stimulated by the Covid-19 towards personal healthcare,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD, and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.
For the seventh year running, the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020 has been researched and compiled by the Hurun Research Institute, using a cut-off of August 31, 2020 when the exchange rate for the US dollar was Rs 73.67. The list relates only to Indians, identified in India as born or raised.
The third-generation heir of the Godrej Family, Smitha V Crishna, ranks as the richest woman on the list, followed by the founder of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
Women make up almost 5 percent of the list (40 people), and 10 of them are self-made. Crishna’s personal wealth stood at Rs 32,400 crore and that of Shaw, who is now the wealthiest self-made woman in India, at Rs 31,600 crore.
Thanks to Happiest Minds ‘s stellar IPO, its 77-year-old creator Ashok Soota also debuted with a wealth of Rs 3,700 crore on the list.
“Assuming that we have probably missed two for every single Hurun rich lister we have found, it is likely that India today has 2,000 individuals with Rs 1,000 crore or more income,” Junaid said.
After the 2019 edition, all three founders of B2B startup Udaan have been the top wealth gainers, with a rise of 274 per cent in wealth for each. A 218 percent jump in his wealth to Rs 3,500 crore was reported by Granules India’s Chigurupati Krishna Prasad (65).
Ritesh Agarwal (26) of Oyo Rooms is the youngest person on the list with Rs 4,500 crore wealth, while Dharam Pal Gulati (96) of MDH is the eldest with Rs 5,400 crore wealth.