India's rich become richer; Adani made Rs 10 lakh-crore in 5 years

Gautam Adani and his family emerged as the biggest wealth gainers in five years, as revealed by the Hurun India Rich List. The Adani enterprise witnessed a massive change in wealth, accumulating ₹10,21,600 crore in the last five years in the energy sector. Hence, the net worth of India's biggest billionaire increased by ₹10 lakh crore in the last 5 years.

This development comes months after the 62-year-old entrepreneur and his family claimed the top spot in the 2024 Hurun India Rich List. In the latest rich list report, he surpassed Mukesh Ambani with a staggering wealth of ₹11.6 lakh crore. According to the report, in the previous year, India witnessed the emergence of a new billionaire every five days. The wealth calculations presented in the Rich List published on August 29 are based on the snapshot taken on July 31, 2024.

Mukesh Ambani far behind

In the latest ‘Wealth Gain’ report, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his family trail behind Adani with ₹3,56,300 crore wealth gain, which was also registered in the energy sector. Next in the line is Aditya Birla Group, owned by Kumar Manglam Birla, who occupied the third spot in the top gainers' list of 2024 and recorded a gain in wealth totalling ₹2,01,200. Cyrus S Poonawalla and the family that runs the Serum Institute of India are trailing close in fourth place. The pharmaceutical company registered a wealth gain of ₹1,95,500 crore in the last five years.

The HCL, the software and services company helmed by Shiv Nadar and family, ranked fifth in the list of ‘Biggest Gainers by Wealth Gain’ with ₹1,72,300 crore wealth gain in five years.

Dilip Shanghvi's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries occupies a sixth position with ₹1,65,900 crore wealth gain in the preceding 5 years, while Ravi Jaipuria and family's food and beverages venture RJ Corp take seventh spot with ₹1,18,700 crore wealth gain.

At the eighth rank comes Sajjan Jindal and his family (JSW Steel), which registered ₹1,17,700 crore wealth gain, followed by a tie at the ninth. The DLF, owned by Rajiv Singh and family, along with Bajaj, owned by Niraj Bajaj and family, secured the ninth spot. Each real estate and automobile company recorded a wealth gain of ₹1,04,700 crore.

 According to the CNBC-TV18 report, India's total billionaire count reached 334 individuals, and the cumulative wealth of these billionaires stands at ₹159 lakh crore.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)