Flipkart Co-Founders are New Billionaires of the country: Forbes India
Flipkart’s co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have made it to the prestigious Forbes India’ rich list. E-commerce giant Flipkart’s founders made their debut on the country’s top 100 rich list as per Forbes magazine’s latest India rich list released on Wednesday. The Bansals made their debut at 86th position with a net worth of USD 1.3 billion (Rs. 8, 582 crores) net worth each.
It is to be noted that the Bansals are country’s first e-commerce billionaires as well. Indian e-commerce has added its first billionaires with Flipkart’s founders (Bansals) making debut on our rich list at number 86, with $1.3 billion net worth each,” the magazine said in a statement in Mumbai.
The Bansals, who founded Flipkart in 2007, Binny Bansal is the youngest on the list at 32 years. The list saw as many as 12 newcomers including Flipkart’s founders and low-cost airline IndiGo’s co-founder Rakesh Gangwal who debuted at 70th position with a net worth of $1.6 billion.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani was named India’s richest for a ninth year in a row with a net worth of USD 18.9 billion. Though Mukesh Ambani tops the rich list for the ninth consecutive year, his net worth, however, declined $4.7 billion to $18.9 billion (Rs.127,700 crore) from 2014 owing to lower oil prices that hit his oil and petrochemicals giant.
Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi stood at second richest with a net worth of USD 18 billion, while Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji retained his third place with a net worth of USD 15.9 billion though $500 million less than in 2014.
Fortune of steel magnate L.N. Mittal (65) declined by $4.6 billion to $11.2 billion and his ranking in the rich list slipped to eight from five in the last year, as his and world’s largest steel major ArcelorMittal was hit by imports from China. Mr. Gangwal’s partner Rahul Bhatia moved up 12 positions to 38th position on the Forbes list with a net worth of $2.4 billion.
The biggest gainer this year was vaccine maker Serum’s Cyrus Poonawalla whose wealth rose from USD 6.2 billion to USD 7.9 million, pushing his rank to the 9th position. Forbes said the minimum threshold for making it to the list has increased from USD 1 billion to USD 1.1 billion in 2015.
Only two women figure in the top 100 billionaires’ list – Leena (Gandhi) Tewari (58 years), chairman of drug major USV Ltd, is ranked 54 with $1.9 billion net worth, while Indu Jain (79 years), chairperson of the country’s largest media group Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, is ranked 57 with $1.85 billion net worth.
“The combined wealth of India’s 100 richest remains largely unchanged at $345 billion, as compared to $346 billion in 2014,” Forbes said. The magazine said the Indian economy was estimated to grow at 7 per cent this year, but the wealth of many of India’s 100 richest have gone down due to decline in the stock markets and depreciation in rupee value over the past one year.
The top 10 Forbes India’ rich list includes:
- Mukesh Ambani (USD 18.9 billion)
- Dilip Shanghvi (USD 18 billion)
- Azim Premji (USD 15.9 billion)
- Hinduja brothers with (USD 15.9 billion)
- Pallonji Mistry (USD 14.7 billion)
- Shiv Nadar (USD 12. 9 billion)
- Godrej family (USD 11.4 billion)
- Lakshmi Mittal (11.2 billion)
- Cyrus Poonawala (USD 7.9 billion) and
- Kumar Mangalam Birla (USD 7.8 billion)