India's billionaire list doubles

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is once again the wealthiest person in India. The net worth of the promoter of the largest listed Indian company is put at $32 billion, an increase of 54 per cent from nearly $21 billion last year, according to a Forbes report.

"Trailing behind him are Lakshmi Mittal (Arcelor Mittal) with a net worth of $30 billion, up 46 per cent from $20.5 billion, and Mukesh's estranged brother, Anil Ambani, whose net worth of $17.5 billion, 40 per cent, higher than before, put him in third place," it said. A rebounding stock market that gained two-thirds in the past year and an economy growing at 6 per cent have boosted the net worth of India's richest people. The combined net worth of India's 100 richest people is $276 billion, almost a quarter of the country's GDP.

"Last year, there were only 27 billionaires on the India Rich List. This year, the number has almost doubled to 52, just two short of what India had at the peak of the stock market boom in 2007," according to the Forbes report.

Though the top 10 positions remain largely unchanged, there are some shifts in fortunes across the list. Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, has moved down from Number 4 to Number 8 and Wipro chairman Azim Premji has moved up to Number 4 position.

"The Ruia brothers (Essar group) with a net worth of $13.6 billion have made it to number 5 this year. Adi Godrej has moved out of the top 10 to the number 12 position. Savitri Jindal, nonexecutive chairwoman of O P Jindal Group, at a net worth of $12 billion this year has made it to number 7 on the list she is one of only six women on the list," the Forbes report said.

The richest newcomers are two brothers from Torrent Power - Sudhir and Samir Mehta, ranked 23 at $2.02 billion. Another notable mention is Nandan Nilekani who has stepped down from Infosys board and is now a part of government. He ranks 43 with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Southern India's TV king Kalanithi Maran, ranked 20, almost doubled his net worth to $2.3 billion from $1.2 billion.