How Much Money do you need to have to be crowned as the Richest person In India?
Well, it’s Just Rs 257000 crores.
But the question is…
Who does have this massive amount of money in India?
This question is answered every year by top global organizations including Forbes and Hurun.
In a vibrant economy like India, there is no dearth of billionaires and millionaires, of course, if one calculates their wealth in US Dollars.
Top Richest Person in India or New Billionaires of 2018:
Hurun Report 2017 found 617 Indians with Rs 10 billion worth assets. This report states, the number of richest people in India has grown by 278 over 2016 and quadrupled since three years ago.
“ On average, the wealth of Hurun India Rich Listers have increased by 17 percent compared to that of 2016. The number of dollar billionaires has increased to 136 from 126 last year.
The inaugural Hurun India Rich List in 2012 had 59 billionaires.
On the other hand, Forbes List of India’s 10 richest persons has somewhat remained consistent over the years. Hence, we combine findings of Hurun and Forbes to present our list of Top 100 richest person of India.
Ratan Tata: World’s Richest person?
Tata Sons Chairman, Ratan Tata’s net worth is estimated at US$ 85 to US$ 90 Billion if one takes into account the 65 percent stake he holds in India’s largest business conglomerate.
This figure puts Ratan Tata among the world’s top three richest men, according to various sources. The net worth of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates hovers around US$ 90 Billion each.
Richest Indians – Top 100 Richest Persons in India 2018:
1. Mukesh Ambani
Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, Mukesh Ambani is pegged as the richest person of India by Forbes and Hurun. With wealth in excess of Rs 2.57 Trillion, Mukesh Ambani is far ahead of any Indian billionaire.
According to Hurun, the wealth of Mukesh Ambani is 50 percent more than the Gross Domestic Product of his country of birth- Yemen.
As RIL ventures into various other enterprises, including defense, Mukesh Ambani is all set to retain this position for the next few years at least.
2. Dilip Shanghvi
With wealth estimated at Rs.890 Billion, pharmaceuticals magnate Dilip Shanghvi is billed as second richest Man in India. Dilip Shanghvi’s assets could have been higher.
However, his pharmaceuticals conglomerate, Sun Pharma Ltd and its group of companies witnessed a downslide during 2017 for various reasons. Despite, he continues to retain the second position.
3. Lakshmi Nivas Mittal
Steel baron LN Mittal moved up as the third richest person in India in 2017 thanks to a global spurt in demand and prices of the metal.
Relaxation in steel import rules enacted in the US and Europe also helped Lakshmi Nivas Mittal bag more business in these markets. His wealth is assessed at Rs. 882 Billion.
4. Shiv Nadar
At Rs. 851 Billion net worth, HCL founder Shiv Nadar takes the fourth position among India’s richest person.
HCL is billed as the world’s fourth-largest software provider and has diverse business interests in the IT sector. In 2017, HCL acquired a US-based mortgage fulfillment firm, adding to his portfolio of investments and holdings.
5. Azim Premji
India’s IT giant and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) giant, Wipro founder Azim Premji ranks as the fifth wealthy or richest person in this country.
With assets worth Rs.739 Billion in 2017, Azim Premji continues to remain among top 10 richest people of India.
However, his rankings have swung from top to middle during the last few years.
6. Cyrus S. Poonawala
Cyrus s. Poonawala has a net worth of Rs.711 Billion and is the founder of Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd.
SII is the world’s largest producers of vaccines in the world and makes about 1.3 billion doses annually for prevention of a variety of disease among infants, toddlers, and adults.
The company is also the largest exporter of vaccines around the world. Cyrus s. Poonawala is an Indian richest person in 2017.
7. Gautam Adani
Following an investment of Rs.490 Billion in developing a port in Gujarat and interests in other industries, Gautam Adani’s is the seventh richest person in India.
His net worth is pegged at Rs. 706 Billion. The Gujarat port project also earned Gautam Adani some accolades: its development will provide jobs to over 25,000 professionals and unskilled workers.
8. Acharya Balkrishna
At the age of 45 years, Acharya Balkrishna is the youngest in the list of top 10 richest Indians.
Acharya Balkrishna is a familiar face with Indian TV viewers since advertisements of his company, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, depict him alongside Yoga guru Baba Ramdev.
Acharya Balkrishna gate-crashed into the club of top 10 richest Indians last year with his wealth found to be in excess of Rs. 700 Billion.
He is rightly credited as the driving force beyond India’s Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Ayurvedic medicine company, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and its subsidiary, Divya Pharmacy.
Acharya Balkrishna holds 97 percent stake in Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, whose income soared by an impressive 700 percent in 2017 and has ousted MNCs operating in the FMCG sector.
9. Uday Kotak
Managing Director of Kotak-Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak’s net worth is said to be around Rs. 627 Billion.
However, Uday Kotak is expected to move upwards in the list of top 10 wealthiest Indians as the bank explores new business horizons in 2018.
Kotak-Mahindra Bank ranks among the topmost private sector financial institution of India.
10. Sunil Mittal
Founder of India’s homegrown telecom giant, Bharti Airtel, his estimated net worth is Rs. 565 Billion.
Over the last couple of years, Sunil Mittal and Bharti Airtel are under siege due to price wars raging in India’s Fourth Generation (4G) mobile market.
Consequently, Sunil Mittal, his family and Bharti Airtel have made heavy investments in buying additional 4G spectrum and Indian division of Norway’s telecom provider, Telenor who had an agreement with Unitech to provide Uninor brand of mobile services in various Indian states.
More Indian Billionaires or Richest Indians: List Of Top 100 Richest Person in India 2018:
India has at least 100 billionaires. Hence, we provide a list of other 90 top richest Indian who are not included in the above list compiled by Hurun.
| Name | Net Worth (in US$) | Company |
| Hinduja Brothers | 18.40 Billion | Ashok Leyland |
| Pallonji Mistry | 16 Billion | Shapoorji Pallonji Group |
| Godrej Family | 14.20 Billion | Godrej Group |
| Kumar Birla | 12.60 Billion | Aditya Birla Group |
| Radhakishan Damani | 9.30 Billion | Avenue Supermarts (D-Mart) |
| Bajaj Family | 8 Billion | Bajaj Auto |
| Savitri Jindal | 7.50 Billion | OP Jindal Group |
| Vikram Lal | 7.20 Billion | Eicher Motors India |
| Benu Gopal Bangur | 6.60 Billion | Shree Cement |
| Burman Family | 6.50 Billion | Dabur (India) Ltd Group |
| Subhas Chandra | 6 Billion | Essel Group |
| Pankaj Patel | 5.90 Billion | Cadila Healthcare |
| Vivek Chaand Sehgal | 5.85 Billion | Motherson Sumi Systems |
| Kushal Pal Singh | 5.70 Billion | DLF |
| Nusli Wadia | 5.60 Billion | Britannia Industries Ltd |
| Ajay Piramal | 5.20 Billion | Piramal Enterprises |
| MA Yusssuf Ali | 5 Billion | LuLu Group, Abu Dhabi |
| Madhukar Parekh | 4.75 Billion | Pidilite Industries |
| Kalanidhi Maran | 4.55 Billion | Sun TV Group |
| Pawan Munjal | 4.50 Billion | Hero Motocorp |
| Kapil & Rahul Bhatia | 4.40 Billion | Interglobe Aviation |
| Mickey Jagtiani | 4.30 Billion | Landmark Group |
| Harsh Mariwala | 4.20 Billion | Marico |
| BR Shetty | 3.90 Billion | NMC Health |
| Ravi Pillai | 3.80 Billion | RP Group |
| Mangal Prabhat Lodha | 3.75 Billion | Lodha Group |
| Kuldeep & Gurbachan Singh Dhingra | 3.70 Billion | Berger Paints India |
| Karsanbhai Patel | 3.60 Billion | Nirma Group |
| Ashwin Dani | 3.50 Billion | Asian Paints |
| Gupta Family | 3.45 Billion | Lupin |
| Shashi & Ravi Ruia | 3.40 Billion | Essar Group |
| Sudhir & Samir Mehta | 3.35 Billion | Torrent Group |
| Samprada Singh | 3.30 Billion | Alkem |
| Anil Agarwal | 3.20 Billion | Vedanta Resources |
| Anil Ambani | 3.15 Billion | Reliance Group |
| PV Ramprasad Reddy | 3.14 Billion | Aurobindo Pharma |
| Baba Kalyani | 3.14 Billion | Bharat Forge |
| Vinod & Anil Rai Gupta | 3.11 Billion | Havells |
| Sameer Gehlaut | 3.10 Billion | Indiabulls Group |
| Hasmukh Chudgar | 3.05 Billion | Intas Pharmaceuticals |
| Jain Family | 3 Billion | Bennett & Coleman (Times of India) |
| Ashwin Choksi | 2.95 Billion | Asian Paints |
| Rajan Raheja | 2.90 Billion | Exide Industries |
| Rakesh Jhunjhunwala | 2.80 Billion | Rare Enterprises |
| Rajesh Biyani | 2.75 Billion | Future Group (Big Bazaar etc) |
| Abhay Vakil | 2.71 Billion | Asian Paints |
| Chandru Raheja | 2.70 Billion | K Raheja Corporation |
| MG George Muthoot | 2.67 Billion | Muthoot Finance |
| Abhay Firodia | 2.65 Billion | Force Motors |
| Yousuf Hamied | 2.62 Billion | Cipla |
| Rajesh Mehta | 2.60 Billion | Rajesh Exports |
| Vijay Chauhan | 2.50 Billion | Parle Products |
| Amalgamations Group | 2.48 Billion | Tractors, Farm Equipment |
| Jai Hari & Yadu Hari Dalmia | 2.45 Billion | Dalmia Bharat |
| Sunny Varkey | 2.40 Billion | GEMS Education |
| Murugappa Family | 2.38 Billion | Muruguppa Group |
| Rajendra Agarwal | 2.30 Billion | Mcleods Pharmaceuticals |
| Harsh Goenka | 2.28 Billion | RPG Group |
| Sunil Vaswani | 2.25 Billion | Stallion Group |
| Jitendra Virwani | 2.2 Billion | Embassy Property Development |
| Leena Tiwari | 2.19 Billion | USV India |
| Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw | 2.16 Billion | Biocon |
| Sanjiv Goenka | 2 Billion | RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group |
| Lacchman Das Mittal | 1.98 Billion | Sonalika Group |
| Murlidhar& Bimal Gyanchandani | 1.96 Billion | RSPL |
| Mofatraj Manoj | 1.95 Billion | Kalpataru |
| Murali Divi | 1.94 Billion | Divi’s Laboratories |
| Ramesh Juneja | 1.92 Billion | Mankind Pharma |
| Anurag Jain | 1.91 Billion | Endurance Technologies |
| Ranjan Pai | 1.90 Billion | Manipal Group |
| Vikas Oberoi | 1.87 Billion | Oberoi Realty |
| Ravi Jaipuria | 1.84 Billion | RJ Corp |
| Salil Singhal | 1.83 Billion | PI Industries |
| NR Narayana Murthy | 1.82 Billion | Infosys |
| Nirav Modi | 1.80 Billion | Firestar Diamond |
| Rajju Shroff | 1.77 Billion | UPL |
| Sunder Genomal | 1.75 Billion | Page Industries |
| Dinesh Nandwana | 1.72 Billion | Vakrangee |
| Nandan Nilekani | 1.71 Billion | Infosys |
| Radheshyam Agarwal | 1.64 Billion | Emami |
| Radheshyam Goenka | 1.64 Billion | Emami |
| Senapathy Gopalakrishnan | 1.61 Billion | Infosys |
| Satish Mehta | 1.6 Billion | Emcure Pharma |
| Shamsheer Vayalil | 1.57 Billion | VPS Healthcare |
| Shyam & Hari Bhartia | 1.56 Billion | Jubilant Group |
| Anand Mahindra | 1.54 Billion | Mahindra & Mahindra |
| Reddy Family | 1.53 Billion | Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories |
| Arvind Poddar | 1.48 Billion | Balkrishna Industries |
| Vijay Shekhar Sharma | 1.47 Billion | Paytm |
| Rana Kapoor | 1.46 Billion | Yes Bank |
In Conclusion
In addition to these billionaires, there are several very richest persons of Indian origin living in foreign countries, either as Non-Resident Indians or have acquired different citizenships.
The combined wealth of India’s top 10 richest people equals or exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of several countries.
Other than Acharya Balkrishna, whose Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, which was founded in 2006 and was an obscure entity till about 2014, corporations owned by Indian billionaires were founded at least three to four decades ago.
As Make in India initiative gathers momentum and the Central government opens doors for public-private partnerships in several key areas, the number of billionaires in India is expected to grow rapidly.
The listing of India’s wealthiest persons is purely indicative. Generally, several factors are considered while assessing a person’s net worth.
These include personal assets, stakes held in various companies, investments, properties and myriad others. Further, this list is subject to change and depends upon figures disclosed by wealthy individuals.