Forbes, on October 12, released its list of India's 100 richest people for 2023. The list saw rank reclaims, returnees, new entrants, and drop-offs along with three interesting debuts.
Dani family of Asian Paints
Ranked at 22, the Dani family from Mumbai made an impressive entry to the Indian billionaires' list for 2023 with a fortune of $8 billion. The Dani family comprises the heirs of the former non-executive director of Asian Paints, Ashwin Dani, who passed away on September 28.
As per a report by the Forbes magazine, Ashwin Dani’s net worth was $8 billion at the time of his passing. In the financial year ended March, Asian Paints reported revenue of $4.1 billion, indicating an increase of 19 percent from the previous year, states the report.
Asian Paints has major presence in Asia as one of the biggest paint companies in the continent. The paint giant gains 98 percent of its annual revenue from the domestic market. It also offers home painting services and interior design services.
Renuka Jagtiani of Landmark Group
Chairwoman of Dubai-based retail giant Landmark Group, Renuka Jagtiani, joined the intriguing list of India's billionaires this year, ranked at 44 with a fortune of $4.8 billion. Jagtiani's entry to the list comes after the demise of the company's former chairman, Mukesh Wadhumal "Micky" Jagtiani, also her husband, early this May. He was ranked 511 on the Forbes' 37th annual world's billionaires list earlier this year.
Renuka Jagtiani has been heading the company's corporate strategy and expansion into new markets for more than two decades. She oversees more than 50,000 employees as the company head.
She also ranked 96th in the Forbes 2021 list of the world's most powerful women, however, was dropped off later in 2022.
Jagtiani joined Landmark group back in 1993, marking a notable act with her fast-fashion venture - Splash. At present, Splash enjoys a strong foothold, with its presence in more than 200 stores across 11 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Following this, the Landmark chairwoman assisted in establishing the company's India arm in 1999. The Landmark Indian unit is spread across 900 stores across five verticals, which include Lifestyle, a department store chain, Home Centre, and Max. Jagtiani took over as the chairwoman and CEO in 2017 but stepped down from the latter role in 2022.
The Forbes 100 richest Indians debutant has inherited a fortune of $4.8 billion from her husband and also meticulously lined up the Jagtiani family's next generation to ensure a smooth transition of legacy. Her three children — Aarti, Nisha, and Rahul — currently serve as the group directors heading various verticals of the company.
KP Ramasamy & family of KPR Mill
Ranked at 100 on India's 100 richest list for 2023 is the family of KP Ramasamy, founder, and chairman of textiles and sugar maker KPR Mill. The KP Ramaswamy family made its debut on the billionaires list with a fortune of $2.3 billion, which is shared by the three Ramaswamy brothers.
The Coimbatore-based KPR Mills, manufactures knitted apparel, cotton, and polyester yarn, along with sugar and ethanol. In addition, it produces men’s innerwear under the Faso brand, which was started in 2019. KPR expanded into sugar production in 2013.
The company, which was founded in 1984, manufactures 128 million garments every year, which are then retailed to global giants, such as H&M, Marks & Spencer, and Walmart, as per the report.
KPR Mills' latest unit in Tamil Nadu's Erode has the capacity to produce 42 million garments annually, according to a report by Forbes. It would also be interesting to note that of the 30,000 people employed by the company, 90 percent are women.
Meanwhile, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani reclaimed the top position on the 2023 Forbes list of India’s 100 Richest with a net worth of $92 billion. Zerodha co-founder, Nikhil Kamath, is officially the youngest billionaire at 37. Ranked 40 among the richest persons in India, the combined net worth of brothers Nithin and Nikhil Kamath currently stands at $5.5 billion.
The collective wealth of India’s 100 Richest was flat at $799 billion for 2023, according to the report released by Forbes on October 12. According to the report, while India's stock market zoomed 14 percent since fortunes were last accessed, a persistent weaker Rupee muted the collective net worth of India's richest.
This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts, and India’s regulatory agencies. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 22. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.
Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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