India’s economic growth saw a record number of people being catapulted onto the world’s billionaire stage as 200 Indians made it to the list of Forbes World’s Billionaires. Gautam Adani has surpassed Mukesh Ambani to become the richest Indian, according to the Hurun India Rich List 2024. The number of those who claim to be the richest Indians has increased over the years to 1559, with their collective wealth having gone up 46%. For the fifth consecutive year, Adani, Ambani, Shiv Nadar, and Cyrus Poonawalla were found to have occupied the top slots of the country’s ranking.
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10 Richest People in India
The richest people in India include:
1. Gautam Adani
2. Mukesh Ambani
3. Savitri Jindal & Family
4. Shiv Nadar
5. Dilip Shivangi
6. Cyrus Poonawalla
7. Kumar Birla
8. Radhakishan Damani
9. Kushal Pal Singh
10. Ravi Jaipura
1. Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani, born on June 24, 1962, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, comes from a modest Gujarati Jain family. Adani’s rise began in the late 1980s when he ventured into commodity trading and gradually over time, he strategically expanded into critical sectors like ports, and power generation. His visionary leadership transformed the Adani Group into a multinational conglomerate in major sectors, including energy, mining, and airports. Today, Adani manages the largest private port in India i.e. Mundra Port, and is also the country’s leading player in renewable energy.
Despite facing challenges such as accusations of stock manipulation and fraud by Hindenburg Research in 2023, Adani’s business intuitiveness kept him high and in control in India’s corporate world. Adani’s fortune rebounded once again in 2024, reaching an estimated $111 billion, placing him among the top 20 richest people globally.
Besides business, Adani and his family are deeply involved in philanthropy. The Adani Foundation is led by his wife Priti Adani and focuses on corporate social responsibility initiatives across 18 Indian states. He was one of the high-profile contributors donating to the PM Cares Fund in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only did he create much buzz among the business community, but in 2022 he also featured on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
2. Mukesh Ambani
At 67 years old, Mukesh Ambani remains a dominant figure in India’s wealth landscape and is the second on the 2024 list of India’s richest people. Ambani with a net worth of $109 billion saw a 25% upsurge in his wealth this year, making it a remarkable 150% rise over the last five years. Mukesh Ambani is the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries which is a diversified conglomerate having revenues of over $104 billion. The company’s interests span across sectors like petrochemicals, oil and gas, retail, telecom, and more making Ambani as one of the most influential business leaders in the world.
Mukesh Ambani inherited Reliance Industries from his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, who established the company in 1966 as a small textile manufacturer. After his father’s death in 2002, Mukesh and his younger brother Anil divided the family business, with Mukesh transforming Reliance into a global powerhouse. Reliance’s telecommunications business, Jio, now has about 470 million subscribers with the group planning to invest $80 billion in green energy for the next 10-15 years. Ambani’s children are on the board of Reliance, helping in expanding the business, with son Akash heading Jio, daughter Isha overseas retail and financial services, and younger son Anant leading the energy business.
Furthermore, Ambani is a notable figure in sports and luxury real estate. He is the owner of an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise known as Mumbai Indians and is the one who founded the Indian Super League (ISL), promoting football in India. His residence, Antilia, is one of the world’s most expensive private homes, valued at $4.6 billion in 2023. Despite his vast success, Ambani has occasionally faced criticism for his involvement in political corruption and market manipulation. Nonetheless, he continues to shape India’s business and industrial landscape, holding the title of the richest person in Asia and ranking 11th globally as of July 2024.
3. Savitri Jindal & Family
Savitri Jindal is a prominent Indian entrepreneur and politician, recognized as the chairperson of the O.P. Jindal Group. She succeeded her husband in running the vast commercial institution after his tragic death in 2005. The Jindal Group is one of the largest business empires in India, operating in sectors such as steel, power, cement, and infrastructure. She is also known for her generous contributions to public service and her role in Indian politics, having served as a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly and as a Minister in the Haryana Government.
Her four sons, Prithviraj, Sajjan, Ratan, and Naveen Jindal manage the diversified operations of the Jindal Group by operating different wings of the business. Sajjan Jindal operates the largest asset of the group, JSW Steel whereas Naveen Jindal manages Jindal Steel & Power. Family conglomerate operations extend beyond India as it also spans the U.S., South America, Europe, and Africa. Its group company, JSW Sports is a division of the group that plays a key role in the development of India’s sports ecosystem.
As of March 2024, Savitri Jindal has an estimated net worth of $42.2 billion, making her India’s richest woman and the 50th richest person in the world. She is further listed as the world’s seventh-richest mother and has continued most of the philanthropic work started by her late husband. Her remarkable business acumen and contributions to Indian industry and politics continue to solidify her status as one of the most influential figures in the country.
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4. Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Technologies, has become one of India’s richest individuals, with a staggering net worth of $40.6 billion as of 2024. In 1976, Nadar co-founded HCL in a garage, making calculators and microprocessors. Now, HCL Technologies stands as a $13.4 billion software services giant employing over 219,000 people in 60 countries. He is known as a visionary for transforming HCL from an IT hardware company into a global IT services enterprise. He passed the chairmanship of HCL Technologies to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra in 2020, making her the first woman chair of a listed Indian IT company. Now, he serves as chairman and the strategic advisor to the company.
In addition to his commercial achievements, Nadar is widely recognized for his philanthropy. He is ranked among India’s most charitable givers as he donated $1.1 billion through Shiv Nadar Foundation to concentrate on education. Some of his biggest contributions are Vidyagyan schools across Uttar Pradesh, free scholarships to rural students, and the founding of SSN, College of Engineering in Chennai in 1996. Nadar was ranked as the most generous Indian on the EdelGive Hurun Philanthropy List 2023.
Nadar’s contributions to the Indian IT industry have earned him numerous titles, including the Padma Bhushan in 2008. His journey from working at Cooper Engineering in Pune to founding HCL is a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit. Over the years, he has been an active endorser of education and innovation, serving on the executive board of the Indian School of Business and as chairman of IIT Kharagpur’s board of governors.
5. Dilip Shanghvi
Dilip Shanghvi, the founder of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, is currently the 5th richest Indian in 2024 with a net worth of $29.8 billion. His success stems from his leadership at Sun Pharma, which he founded in 1983 with just Rs. 200 borrowed from his father. The company eventually became India’s most valuable listed pharmaceutical firm and even achieved a historic high of $5 billion. His bold move to acquire the Ranbaxy Laboratories for $4 billion in 2014 greatly leveraged Sun Pharma’s global spread, contributing to its dominant position in the pharmaceutical industry today.
He was born into a Gujarati family and did his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calcutta. His career began by working in his father’s generic drug distribution business and earned valuable industry insight in the process. He started Sun Pharma at the age of 27 in Vapi, Gujarat, and focused mainly on psychiatric drugs. The acquisition strategies he practiced coupled with good business insight rocketed the growth of Sun Pharma, including purchasing U.S.-based Concert Pharmaceuticals for $576 million in 2023.
Throughout his career, Shanghvi has received numerous awards, including the Padma Shri award in 2016. He served on the Reserve Bank of India central board and was also chairman of the board of governors at IIT Bombay. Even after he resigned as managing director of SPARC, Shanghvi still exerts influence at the company while also serving as non-executive director and chairman of Sun Pharma. His two children Aalok and Vidhi are also involved in the family business.
6. Cyrus Poonawalla
Cyrus Poonawalla is the founder of the Serum Institute of India with a net worth of $25.0 billion. His wealth has grown significantly since 2020, largely due to the phenomenal success of the Serum Institute which happens to be the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by doses produced. The company had more than 1.5 billion doses in production every year-from vaccines for measles, polio, and flu to make it first on the list of the most significant vaccine distributors globally. Poonawalla’s rise in wealth was also accelerated by the widespread distribution of the Covishield vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic which was developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
He embarked on his entrepreneurial journey in 1966 when he founded the Serum Institute of India in Pune and transformed the institute into a worldwide vaccine manufacturer. His son, Adar Poonawalla serves as the CEO of the company and has overseen an $800 million major investment in an establishment dedicated to the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
In addition to vaccinations, Poonawalla has pursued diversified business interests including a stake in Poonawalla Fincorp, a leading non-banking financial company (NBFC), and part ownership of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pune. His influence extends not only in the business sphere but also reaches out to philanthropy and politics as he is one of the biggest donors to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the 2019 elections.
7. Kumar Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla, the icon of the commodities sector, ranks 7th on the list of the richest individuals in India with a net worth of $24.1 billion. Over the past five years, his wealth has seen a staggering 6.9-fold increase, climbing by 87%. He leads the company Aditya Birla Group, which is a diversified conglomerate with interests in aluminum, cement, textiles, and financial services. It has grown into a multinational entity with a footprint across 41 countries. His leadership continues to drive the company forward, generating more than half of its revenue from international operations.
Kumar Birla is one of the fourth-generation leaders in the Birla family. He took over the reins of the Aditya Birla Group at age 28 in 1995 after his father died. Since then, the company turnover has scaled up from $2 billion in 1995 to $45 billion in 2021. He is also a chartered accountant and graduated from the London Business School. He also served as the chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, chairman of IIT Delhi, and chairman of IIM Ahmedabad. Amongst his awards, the Forbes India Leadership Award for Entrepreneur of the Year and the Economic Times Business Leader are more prominent.
Birla’s impact extends beyond the commodities industry as he previously served as the non-executive chairman of Vodafone Idea, a leading telecommunications company, but stepped down in 2021 due to mounting debt challenges. However, in 2024, he was reappointed as a non-executive director and there is the beginning of Vodafone Idea 2.0 which is a new phase focused on upgrading its network infrastructure and rolling out 5G technology. For the first time recently, Birla’s children, Ananya and Aryaman, joined the boards of key companies within the group, further cementing the role of the family in its future.
8. Radhakishan Damani
Radhakishan Damani & Family features at 8th position on the list of the top 10 richest Indians for 2024 with a net worth currently standing at $22.8 billion. The list by Hurun further claims that his wealth multiplied 2.2 times in the last five years, and this showcases the success that he has enjoyed both in the sector of retail as well as in investments. At 69, he is the force behind Avenue Supermarts Limited, the parent company of DMart, which has expanded to 336 stores across India since its inception in 2002.
Before entering the retail industry, Damani built a career as a stock market broker and investor after leaving his family’s ball-bearing business. His aggressive rise to wealth and power traces to a diversity of his business interests, ranging from retail to investments and real estate. Damani, often referred to as India’s “retail king,” revolutionized the retail sector with his chain of DMart stores. His journey began in suburban Mumbai when he opened the first store in 2002 and by 2017, Avenue Supermarts had its IPO, catapulting Damani into the billionaire category. Apart from running an investment arm, known as Bright Star Investments Limited, he also has stakes in VST Industries and India Cements, among others. Furthermore, he owns the upscale Radisson Blu Resort in Alibaug, among many other assets, and made a real estate investment in Mumbai in 2023 by investing in 28 luxury apartments with his brother for $155 million.
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9. Kushal Pal Singh
A visionary real estate tycoon and retired army officer, Kushal Pal Singh transformed India’s urban landscape, particularly with the development of DLF City in Gurgaon. Born in 1931, he was a student of aeronautical engineering and served as a commissioned officer in the Indian Army before entering into the family business that is DLF, founded by his father-in-law. He started his career as a managing director in 1979 and ultimately rose to the position of chairman of DLF, a post he held for over five decades before stepping down in 2020. Under his leadership, DLF has grown into India’s largest publicly listed real estate company by market capitalization, developing earthquake-proof office buildings, shopping malls, and residential complexes across the country.
He has led many innovative initiatives during his tenure such as DLF’s mega Initial Public Offering in 2007, which generated a sum exceeding $2.2 billion, one of the largest IPOs in India’s history. His sharp business acumen also led DLF to associate with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund to introduce a luxury residential project in Delhi in 2022. He had earlier sold his stake in the rental arm of DLF to GIC for $1.9 billion in 2017. Singh’s work catapulted DLF to the pinnacle in the industry but also made him one of the richest families in the world, with a net worth of $19.4 billion as of 2024.
His children are carrying his legacy as his son Rajiv Singh is the current chairman of DLF, and the family members are also extremely active on the operations front helping DLF stay on top of India’s realty market. The story of this man serves as an inspiration to all entrepreneurs in their endeavor to build one of the world’s most impressive real estate empires based on vision, persistence, and strategic leadership.
10. Ravi Jaipuria
Ravi Jaipuria, known as India’s “cola king,” heads RJ Corp which is a diversified conglomerate with interests spanning beverages, fast food, healthcare, and education. He leads Varun Beverages, which is the largest bottling partner outside the US for PepsiCo. Jaipuria’s flagship company recently took the International Bottler of the Year award in 2022, a testament of its global influence. He also launched his own public shares through his Devyani International, franchisee of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Costa Coffee in India which went public in 2021. His ventures put his net worth at a massive $14.2 billion, thus being one of the major forces in India’s food and beverage industry.
Jaipuria stumbled into business when he arrived in India in 1985 after completing his business management studies in the United States. He initially joined his family’s Coca-Cola bottling business but pivoted to PepsiCo in 1987 following a family split in which he received a single bottling plant as his share, which later on became the foundation for his vast PepsiCo empire. He went ahead to diversify the business and formed RJ Corp as a leader in the beverage world.
Apart from beverages and fast food, Jaipuria has invested in healthcare including Medanta, the hospital chain that went public in 2022, and apart from this a hotel chain, Lemon Tree Hotels. To showcase his love for his children, he named his companies after them, Varun Beverages after his son’s name and Devyani International for his daughter.
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Conclusion
India is an economically thriving nation, as it is now home to 334 billionaires, an increase of 75 in one year. This reflects the country’s growing influence on the world’s financial stage as the statistics add one new billionaire every five days. While the Indian economy will continue on its upward curve, the number of high-net-worth individuals will also increase, thus stabilizing the status the country has carved for itself as a powerhouse of wealth creation.
FAQs
Who Is the Youngest Billionaire in India?
Nikhil Kamath is India’s youngest billionaire according to the Forbes Billionaires List 2024 with a net worth of $3.1 billion.
Who Was India’s First Billionaire?
Nizam Ali of Hyderabad was recognized as the first Indian billionaire and was celebrated by Time magazine in 1937 as “The Richest Man in the World.”
How Many Billionaires Are There in Pakistan?
As per the report of 2024, Pakistan has only four billionaires in US dollars terms with a total worth of $ 20 billion in a range varying from $ 1 billion to $ 11.6 billion.
Who Is the Richest Poor Person in India?
Bharat Jain is recognized as the world’s richest beggar, with a net worth of $1 million. He has been begging for over 40 years since he was a teenager.
Who Is the Richest Actress in Bollywood?
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan tops the list with her worth of Rs. 800 crores which comes from films, brand endorsements, and real estate investments.
