Even as the number of billionaires dropped by eight percent globally, India added 16 billionaires and occupied the third spot on the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List among countries which added new billionaires.
Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and family, topped the list of the top 16 new Indian billionaires in 2023's Hurun Global Rich List. Rekha Jhunjhunwala inherited a stock portfolio from her late husband Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who was often referred to as India's Warren Buffett.
At a global level the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List saw the addition of 176 new faces, from 18 industries and 99 cities across the globe.
Indian billionaires have added nearly 360 billion dollars to their cumulative wealth in the past five years. The 360 billion dollar figure is equivalent to Hong Kong’s GDP, the list stated.
Globally the total number of billionaires fell from 3,384 last year in 2o22 to 3,112 billionaires in 2023. These billionaires are from 69 countries and own 2,356 companies cumulatively.
A trend has been witnessed in the number of native billionaires increasing as the proportion of immigrant billionaires in M3M Hurun Global Rich List has almost halved - from 23 percent in 2018 to 14 percent in 2023, over a period of five years.
The number of billionaires residing in India has nearly doubled in line with the performance of the broader market index, which increased more than 80 percent during the last year. This trend demonstrates that much of the wealth created in the last decade was by resident Indians.
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