MUMBAI: Reliance Industries' chairman Mukesh Ambani continues to top the list of the richest in the country, despite seeing an erosion of Rs 1 trillion from his wealth pile and dropping out of the world’s top 10 richest list, while, Roshni Nadar of HCL Technologies has emerged as the fifth richest woman globally and the first Indian woman to enter the world's top 10 wealthiest women, according to Hurun India rich list for the year 2024-2025.
The country added 45 new billionaires in the reporting year, taking the total number to 284, and the number was 165 in 2023. The sudden growth in the number of billionaires in the country strengthens its position as the third-largest hub for billionaires globally. Their combined wealth stands at $950 billion, about a third of the national GDP.
Of these 284 individuals, 175 saw their wealth rise, while 109 saw it decline or remain flat.
New York City continues to be the world's billionaire capital for the second consecutive year, hosting 129 billionaires. In comparison, Mumbai remains the country’s billionaire hub with 90, although it lost its title as Asia’s billionaire capital to Shanghai which is home to 92 billionaires and Beijing follows with 91.
Mumbai added 11 new entrants, more than London (7) and Beijing (8).In terms of wealth growth, 130 Indians saw an increase, compared to 285 in China and 544 in the US. Indian billionaires’ wealth rose 10% on-year, compared to 9% in China and 27% in the US.
Ambani remains the country’s richest individual with a net worth of $91.8 billion, placing him 18th globally in the Hurun global rich list 2025. Gautam Adani, the founder of the Adani Group, follows with a net worth of $53.5 billion, ranking 27th worldwide and this makes him the one who has added the maximum wealth in the year, after the massive losses in the past two years as the group was falling into trouble after troubles.
The 62-year-old Adani was the biggest wealth gainer in absolute terms in the country, with an increase of nearly Rs 1 trillion in his networth. His fortune rose by 13%.When it comes to women billionaires, Roshni Nadar of HCL has emerged as the fifth richest woman globally and the first Indian woman to enter the world's top 10 wealthiest women with Rs 3.5 trillion.
She is also the first Indian woman to break into the global top 10 women, after her father, Shiv Nadar, transferred a 47% stake in HCL to her.
Despite a $100-billion reduction in his networth, Elon Musk, the man Friday of US president Donald Trump, retains his position as the world's richest individual on the list for the for the fourth consecutive year, with an over $400 billion of networth, making him the first person in the world to surpass the $400 billion network mark.
The other richest individuals are Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma (Rs 2.5 trillion), Azim Premji of Wipro (Rs 2.2 trillion), Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group (Rs 2 trillion), Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute (Rs 2 trillion), Niraj Bajaj of Bajaj Auto (Rs 1.6 trillion), Ravi Jaipuria of RJ Corp (Rs 1.4 trillion) and Radhakishan Damani of Avenue Supermarts with Rs 1.4 trillion of networth.
Five of the top ten are based in Mumbai and New Delhi contributed two names, while Bengaluru, Pune and Ahmedabad have one each. If we take the average wealth of the richest Indians, its comes to Rs 34,514 crore, higher than China’s Rs 29,027 crore and their average age is 68, two years above the global average.
Youngest billionaires are Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur of Razorpay, both aged 34 with Rs 8,643 crore each. There are 22 billionaire women in the country the rich list this year with a combined networth of Rs 9 trillion. From a sectoral point of view, healthcare has the largest number of billionaires at 53, followed by consumer goods at 35 and industrial products at 32.