The rupee may be weaker, but the rich are richer | Daily News Byte

Infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani, who changed the order at the top for the first time since 2008. After nearly tripling his wealth in 2021, Adani doubled his wealth to $150 billion this year to become the new No. 1—and for a while, too , the second richest person on the planet Image: Forbes Asia

IIndia’s post-pandemic demand revival has seen its economy become the world’s fifth largest, overtaking the UK. But the stock market was down slightly from a year ago, with the biggest dampener being the weaker rupee, which fell 10 percent over the same period. Despite this, the combined wealth of India’s 100 richest rose by $25 billion to $800 billion.

The gain was largely the result of a record-breaking feat by infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani, who reshuffled the order at the top for the first time since 2008. After nearly tripling his wealth in 2021, Adani doubled his wealth to $150 billion this year. becoming the new No. 1—and also, for a time, the second-richest person on the planet. The biggest winner this year in both percentages and dollars, Adani announced that it will invest 100 billion dollars in the next decade, 70 percent of which in green energy.

Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance Industries [owner of Network 18, the publisher of Forbes India], the oil and gas telecommunications giant, came in second with $88 billion, down 5 percent from last year. Between them, the Adanis and Ambanis now account for 30 percent of the total wealth of India’s 100 richest.

The country’s retail kingpin Radhakishan Damani, who owns supermarket chain DMart, broke into the top three for the first time, although his net worth fell 6 percent to $27.6 billion. Another year of big profits from Covid-19 vaccines pushed vaccine baron Cyrus Poonawalla into fourth place with a fortune of $21.5 billion.

There are nine new faces this year, including three from the IPO: Falguni Naiyar, a former banker who became India’s self-made richest woman after listing her beauty and fashion retailer Nikaa; ethnic wear maker Ravi Modi; and shoemaker Rafiq Malik, who listed Metro Brands last December.

Three prominent members of the list have passed away this year: Rahul Bajaj, the ailing patriarch of the Bajaj family; Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, often called India’s Warren Buffett, who died after launching his new airline Akasa Air in August and whose wife, Rekha, is taking his place; and construction magnate Pallonji Mistry, whose 54-year-old son Cyrus Mistry was killed in a car accident in September, leaving the patriarch’s elder son Shapoor Mistry in charge of the family’s $14.2 billion fortune.

Among the four returnees is Anand Mahindra, whose Mahindra & Mahindra created buzz with the launch of an electric SUV. The winners were outnumbered by the majority — 60 in all — who saw their wealth decline from a year ago.

Notable among the exiters was Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who saw shares of his One97 Communications, the parent company of fintech Paitm, fall amid the global tech meltdown. The cutoff for the top 100 was $1.9 billion, almost the same as last year’s $1.94 billion.

Check out the complete list of India’s 100 Richest 2022

Editing assistance by Jane Ho. Additional reporting by Gloria Haraito and Anuradha Raghunathan

METHODOLOGY

This list has been compiled using information on ownership and finances obtained from families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and Indian regulatory agencies. The ranking includes family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as the Bajaj and Godrej families. Public wealth is calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 23. Private companies are valued against similar publicly traded companies. The list may also include foreign citizens with business, residential or other ties to the state, or citizens who do not reside in the country, but have significant business or other ties to the state. The editors reserve the right to change any information or remove any listings in light of new information