Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, became $9.98 billion richer, according to data available on Bloomberg. This increase leads a group of Indian billionaires who have added to their net worth in 2023. With a total wealth of $97.1 billion, Ambani is the richest Indian and the 13th richest person globally. His wealth, which primarily comes from Reliance Industries and Jio Financial Services, increased due to a 9 percent gain in RIL stock and the listing of Jio Financial stock after a demerger.
Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Tech, is a close second, adding $9.47 billion to his wealth this year, reaching $34 billion. Despite a struggling year for the IT sector, HCL Tech's shares zoomed 41 percent this year.
Savitri Jindal, the former Chairperson of OP Jindal Group, came in third by adding $8.93 billion. She sources her wealth from group companies such as Jindal Steel, Jindal Steel and Power, Jindal Energy. She is also the richest Indian woman with a total net worth of $24.7 billion.
Kushal Pal Singh, who derives his wealth from real estate giant DLF, saw an increase of $7.83 billion in 2023 due to a 91 percent rise in DLF's share price. The real estate industry had a prosperous year with record pre-sales and numerous new launches. Singh's net worth now stands at $16.1 billion.
Shapoor Mistry, who controls the engineering and construction conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which has been in existence for 158 years, added $7.41 billion to his fortune this year. His net worth is now $35.2 billion.
Other billionaires who saw an increase in their net worth in 2023 were Kumar Mangalam Birla from Aditya Birla Group (adding $7.09 billion), Ravi Jaipuria from Varun Beverages ($5.91 billion), Dilip Shanghvi from Sun Pharma ($5.26 billion), Mangal Prabhat Lodha from Lodha Group ($3.91 billion), and Sunil Mittal from Airtel ($3.62 billion).
On the other hand, Gautam Adani, currently the second-richest Indian, suffered the most significant global wealth loss in 2023, losing $37.3 billion due to the sharp sale of shares in several of his companies. Adani's total net worth is now $83.2 billion.
Shares of many Adani Group companies that saw selling earlier in the year are yet to recover. They include Adani Enterprises (down 26 percent in 2023), Adani Energy Solutions (down 59 percent), Adani Green Energy (down 15 percent), Adani Total Gas (down 72 percent), Adani Wilmar (down 41 percent), ACC (down 9 percent), Ambuja Cements (down 1 percent) and NDTV (down 23 percent).
Radhakishan Damani, who runs the retail chain D-Mart, was the only Indian with a decrease in wealth, losing $187 million. Shares of Avenue Supermarts (parent company of D-Mart) remained flat in 2023.
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