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Washington:
Fifty Indians, including L.N. Mittal, the Ambani brothers and Azim
Premji, have made it to the Forbes list of World Billionaires
2011, as Indians Chinese, Russians and Brazilians raced to catch
up with Americans, still at the top.
Indian steel czar Lakshmi Mittal with a net worth of $31.1 billion
grabbed the sixth place with net profits of ArcelorMittal, world's
largest steel-maker, rising 18-fold to $2.9 billion in 2010 on
recovery in demand for the commodity and higher margins.
Mukesh Ambani with a net worth $27 billion was ranked ninth on the
world list, while the head of consumer products to outsourcing
giant Wipro, Azim Premji, was next ranked 36th with a net worth of
$16.8 billion.
"The largest such endowment by an individual in India makes Premji
one of Asia's biggest donors," said the magazine, referring to a
donation of $2 billion worth of shares last year to a trust to
fund his Azim Premji Foundation.
Among the top 10 Indians on the list were Shashi and Ravi Ruia,
with a net worth of $15.8 billion, Savitri Jindal and family
($13.2 billion), Gautam Adani ($10 billion), Kumar Mangalam Birla
($9.2 billion), Anil Ambani ($8.8 billion), Sunil Mittal and
family ($8.3 billion), and Adi Godrej and family ($7.3 billion).
For the second year in a row, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim
Helu takes the title of world's richest man with a record-breaking
fortune of $74 billion. His net worth grew $20.5 billion in a
year.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, 55, was second again as his net
worth rose $3 billion to $56 billion. Warren Buffett, 80, chief
executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., held on to third
place with $50 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old cofounder and chief executive
officer of social-networking website Facebook Inc. jumped to 52nd
this year from 212th place last year.
There are now 1,210 billionaires in the world and 214 new members
joined the club in 2010, while only 47 dropped off the list last
year. The US still dominates, with 413 billionaires, compared to
Asia, which came in second with 332.
The US gained 23 new billionaires and lost 13, recording a net
gain of 10. Asia cranked out 98 new billionaires last year, and
their combined fortunes jumped 37 percent.
The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries alone accounted
for 108 new billionaires, giving them a total of 301. China had
the most new billionaires, with 54 and a total of 115. Moscow
displaced New York as the city with the greatest number of
billionaires with 79, compared with 58.
The Asia-Pacific region had more billionaires than Europe for the
first time in more than 10 years and gained the most billionaires
of any region, with 105 newcomers.
(Arun Kumar can
be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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