India's billionaire club on upswing

The number of billionaires in India is expected to be doubled in the next decade, which will make Asia’s third largest economy the fourth in the list of nations with most number of billionaires.

According to a report by Knight Frank, a London-based wealth consultancy, India will have 3,371 ultra-rich individuals by 2024 after registering a jump of 104 per cent in ten years from 1,652.

“With the new Indian government commanding a majority in the lower house for the first time in three decades, there is real opportunity to introduce far more transparency. That in turn will boost foreign investment,” the report said.

Knight Frank India Chairman & Managing Director Shishir Baijal appreciated the findings of the report.

“This reflects a more positive outlook for India’s economy after 2014 was marked by capital outflows and a sharp devaluation of the rupee,” Baijal said.

Interestingly, the 2015 Forbes list of world’s billionaires declared that India has already produced the fourth largest number of billionaires across the world in 2014. The United States is the first, followed by China and Germany. However, there were only five Indians among the 100 richest across the world.

The number of Indian billionaires in the list has increased to 90 with a total wealth of $294 billion from the previous year when there were 56 Indian billionaires with a total net worth of $191.5 billion.

Women on Top

Savitri Jindal, Non-Executive Chairperson, Jindal Steel & Power Limited, is now one out of five Indian women who had made it to the 2015 Forbes list of the world’s billionaires.

The 2015 Forbes Billionaires List has a record number of women this year; they, however, still account for just about 11 per cent of the richest people on the planet. Out of the total 1,826 billionaires, 197 are women, up from 172 in 2014.

Christy Walton, chief shareholder of retailer Wal-Mart, retained the title of world’s richest woman at $41.7 billion.

The number of Indian women in this year’s list saw an increase of three names over last year, when only two Indian women were included on the Forbes billionaires list.

Among Indian women, Savitri Jindal was ranked 283 on the list with a net worth of $5.3 billion in 2015. Indu Jain, who heads media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman & Co, was ranked 603 with net worth of $3.1 billion. Anu Aga, who is the owner of engineering firm Thermax, Vinod Gupta, who owns Havells India, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who is the founder of Biocon, were ranked 1,312, 1,533 and 1,741 respectively.

The total number of world’s billionaires in the Forbes list is 1,826, which includes 290 newcomers, with an aggregate networth of $7.05 trillion. Forbes had also pointed it out that just 29 of the 197 women in the list are self-made billionaires.

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