India mints a record 69 billionaires

30 September 2010 - 13:56 By Sapa-AFP
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Tycoon Mukesh Ambani kept his title as India's richest man as the fast-growing economy minted 17 new billionaires in 2010, driving the total to a record 69, according to Forbes rich list Thursday.

Ambani, chairman of India's biggest private sector firm Reliance Industries, was named the wealthiest Indian for a third consecutive year with a net worth of 27 billion dollars, Forbes India magazine said.

He was closely followed by London-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal with a worth of 26.1 billion dollars.

The record number of billionaires "is yet another clear signal the centre of gravity will increasingly shift to India and China over the next decade," said Indrajit Gupta, editor of Forbes India.

Indian entrepreneurs are displaying "their ability to harness the unprecedented wealth creation opportunities that exist in this part of the world," Gupta said.

But the rise in the number of billionaires comes amid warnings by anti-poverty groups that the gap between India's wealthy and poor is growing steadily in the country of 1.2 billion.

About 836 million Indians live on less than 20 rupees (45 cents) a day, according to a government report, while Indian statistics on health, infant mortality, malnutrition and income are worse than those for sub-Saharan Africa.

Infotech tycoon Azim Premji, who controls outsourcing firm Wipro, moved into third spot on the rich list with 17.6 billion dollars, displacing Ambani's younger brother Anil Ambani who heads Reliance's telecom, financial and utility businesses.

Anil, who recently reconciled with his brother after a venomous feud over a division of family assets, fell to sixth with 13.3 billion dollars as a slump in his companies' shares pushed down his wealth by 24 percent.

The top 40 Indians' collective worth now stands at 243 billion dollars, up from 229 billion a year ago, but their wealth is still shy of the 351 billion dollar record notched up in 2007.

Still, their riches are more than double the collective fortunes of China's 40 wealthiest people last year which totalled 106 billion, according to Forbes.

The biggest gainer in percentage terms was media baron Kalanithi Maran, owner of Sun TV Network, who took a more than one-third stake in domestic low- cost airline SpiceJet. His net worth rose 74 percent to four billion dollars.

But some fortunes took a hit. Property baron Kushal Pal Singh, owner of debt-laden DLF, lost nearly a third of his wealth despite a real estate rebound.

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