Mukesh Ambani has retained hisposition as the world's richest Indian for the fifth year in arow, despite a decline in his networth to USD 21 billion,according to an annual rich list released on Thursday.
Although Ambani's networth declined for the third year ina row, including a plunge of USD 1.6 billion in past one year,his fortune remains more than 30 per cent above that of thesecond-ranked Lakshmi Mittal, as per business magazine Forbes'latest annual ranking of 100 wealthiest Indians. Steel baronMittal's networth fell by USD 3 billion to USD 16 billion.
Ambani, who heads energy-to-retail conglomerate RelianceIndustries group, and Mittal are followed by IT czar AzimPremji (USD 12.2 billion), construction major and Tata group'smajor shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji group patriarch PallonjiMistry (USD 9.8 billion) and drugmaker Sun Pharma's DilipShanghvi (USD 9.2 billion) in the top-five.
Mukesh's younger brother Anil Ambani is ranked 11th (USD6 billion), as he movs up two positions from 13th last year.
Others in top 10 include Adi Godrej at 6th position (USD 9billion), followed by Savitri Jindal (USD 8.2 billion), Shashi& Ravi Ruia (USD 8.1 billion), Hinduja Brothers (USD 8billion) and Kumar Mangalam Birla (USD 7.8 billion).
Telecom czar Sunil Mittal and Gautam Adani have moved outof the top 10 and are now ranked 12th and 16th respectively.
Last year, Mittal was ranked sixth and Adani was seventh.
Even as the networth of top-ranked persons like Ambaniand Mittal fell, the collective wealth of India's richest 100rose by 3.7 per cent (USD 9 billion) to USD 250 billion in thepast one year, Forbes said. In the preceding year, the totalwealth of India's 100 richest had fallen by 20 per cent.
The number of billionaires has risen to 61, from 57 lastyear. Sun Pharma's Shanghvi has made his debut in top fivethis year.