New Delhi: India added 40 new billionaires last year, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2021 published Tuesday. The country has a total of 177 billionaires and there are an additional 32 Indian-origin billionaires across the world.
The list is published by the Hurun Report Inc, a research platform based in Shanghai and Mumbai, which claims to be the world’s largest ‘rich list‘ provider. It was established in 1999 by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf.
According to the list, there are a total of 37, 26, and 19 billionaires respectively in the healthcare, consumer goods, and chemicals sector in India. Financial capital Mumbai has 61 billionaires, followed by New Delhi with 40. The average age of billionaires in India is 66 years, according to the list.
While Mukesh Ambani continued to be India’s richest man and the eighth richest person in the world, L.N. Mittal of ArcelorMittal in London led the list among the 32 India-origin billionaires.
Among the biggest gainers in India last year were Ambani and Gautam Adani. Ambani’s wealth was estimated to be at $83 billion. It grew 24 per cent last year.
“India’s largest exporter, Reliance, accounts for 8 per cent of the country’s exports and 5 per cent of India’s total revenues from customs and excise duty,” the report noted.
Adani’s wealth almost doubled to $32 billion last year, on the back of the success of Adani Green Energy growing to a $20 billion valuation.
Other billionaires in India include Shiv Nadar and family, whose wealth grew by $10 billion to reach $27 billion last year and Narayana Murthy, who saw an increase in wealth by 35 per cent to $3.1 billion. Pankaj Munjal and the family of Hero Cycles debuted on the list with a valuation of $1.2 billion. The report attributed his wealth to the surge in demand for e-bikes in India.
While billionaires added to their wealth in 2020, at least 84 per cent of households in India saw a drop in their incomes last year.
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Billionaires of the world
The report also noted that 414 people rose to acquire the billionaire status globally in 2020, taking the total billionaire count to 3,228. That means the world got eight new billionaires each week.
The report claimed that billionaires added wealth equivalent to the GDP of Germany and their total wealth is equal to China’s. Despite the pandemic, which led to a rise in poverty and hunger, billionaires added $3.5 trillion, to make their collective wealth reach $14.7 trillion.
“The speed of wealth creation is nothing short of staggering. Three individuals added more than US $50 bn in a single year, led by Elon Musk with US$151bn, on the back of the rise of e-cars, whilst e-commerce billionaires Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Colin Huang of Pinduoduo added US $50 bn each. At this rate, expect to see fifty or more breakthrough the US $100 bn mark within the next five years,” Hoogewerf was quoted as saying in the report.
At 49, Musk is the youngest richest person in the world. His wealth grew by 328 per cent last year to reach $197 billion, followed by Bezos, whose wealth grew by 35 per cent last year to reach $189 billion.
Where most billionaires live
China surpassed the US to become home to the most number of billionaires in the world. The country added 259 billionaires last year to have a total to 1,058. The US added 70 billionaires in 2020 and now houses 696 billionaires. Asia accounts for 51 per cent of the world’s billionaires.
Beijing is the billionaire capital of the world, with 145 billionaires living there. Shanghai overtook New York to reach the second spot, with 113 billionaires. New York is home to 112 billionaires and Mumbai secured the 10th spot with 60, while Delhi secured the 14th place with 40 billionaires.
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