Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceuticals, with a net worth of $ 21.5 billion, surpassed Mukesh Ambani as the world’s richest Indian, few days after the Reliance Industries Ltd. chief was ranked India’s wealthiest for the eighth consecutive year.
A real-time update by the business magazine Forbes reworked the rankings. On the global rich list, Shanghvi moved up to the 37th position, while Ambani slipped to the 43rd. Earlier, Forbes released its annual rich list for 2015, ranking Ambani at the 39th position and Shanghvi at the 44th. Azim Premji of Wipro was ranked 48th, from which he has moved up one place now. Shanghvi’s net worth stood at $ 21.5 billion, following a sharp rally in the share prices of his group companies.
India is fourth in world billionaires' list
According to the Forbes rich list for the year 2015, India is home to the fourth largest number of billionaires across the world. US tops the charts followed by China and Germany.
However, there are only five Indians figuring among the 100 wealthiest across the world. Registering a significant jump over the last year when there were 56 billionaires with a collective net worth of $191.5 billion, the number of Indian billionaires has increased to 90 with a total wealth of $294 billion.
In comparison, the US has as many as 536 billionaires, followed by 213 from China and 103 from Germany.
Meanwhile, the ranks of the world's wealthiest defied global economic turmoil and expanded yet again despite plunging oil prices and a weakened euro. There were a record 1,826 billionaires with an aggregate networth of $7.05 trillion, up from $6.4 trillion a year ago, according to Forbes.
The total number of world's billionaires includes 290 newcomers, 71 of whom hail from China. Youth are on the rise as a record 46 among the ranks are under 40 years.
Among the BRIC countries India is home to the second largest number of billionaires after China. China had 213 super rich people, worth $565 billion, followed by India (90, $294 billion), Brazil (54, $181 billion) and Russia (88, $337 billion).
Moreover, five Indian women have made it to the Forbes list of the world's billionaires that saw a record number of women this year. The number of Indian women in this year's list witnessed an increase over last year, when only two Indian women were included on the Forbes billionaire list.
