Mukesh Ambani richest Indian for 8th yr; Gates on top

Mukesh Ambani has retained his position as the richest Indian for the eighth year in a row with a networth of USD 21 billion, while moving up one place on the global rich list that has been topped once again by software czar Bill Gates.

Among the 90 Indians on the Forbes Rich List 2015, published on Monday, Ambani (39th globally) is closely followed by pharmaceuticals business tycoon Dilip Shanghvi (44th rank with networth of USD 20 billion) and Azim Premji (48th with USD 19.1 billion). Gates with a networth USD 79.2 billion tops Forbes Rich List.

This is for the 16th time in the past 21 years the software czar is topping the list. He is followed by Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu at the second and legendary American investor Warren Buffett at the third place.

Announcing the list, Forbes said ranks of the world's wealthiest defied global economic turmoil and expanded yet again, yielding a record 1,826 billionaires with an aggregate networth of USD 7.05 trillion, up from USD 6.4 trillion a year ago.

Indians on the list include Shiv Nadar (66th; USD 14.8 billion), Hinduja Brothers (69th; USD 14.5 billion) Lakshmi Mittal (82nd; USD 13.5 billion), Kumar Mangalam Birla (142nd; USD 9 billion), Uday Kotak (185th; USD 7.2 billion), Gautam Adani (208th; USD 6.6 billion), Sunil Mittal (208th; USD 6.6 billion) and Cyrus Poonawalla (208th; USD 6.6 billion).

Anil Ambani with a networth of USD 4 billion is ranked 418th in the list. "The total includes 290 newcomers, 71 of whom hail from China," Forbes said, while adding that the the number of those aged below 40 is on the rise and the average networth of billionaires has, however, fallen to USD 3.86 billion.

On the global list, Spain's Amancio Ortega has slipped to fourth place, while Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has moved up 5 spots to number 16, ranking among the world's 20 richest for the first time. Alibaba's Jack Ma and three other Chinese are among the the biggest gainers and figure among 50 richest on the list. 

Disclosure: Network 18, which publishes moneycontrol.com, is now part of the Reliance Group.