Forbes list has 6 Indian technology billionaires

Wipro's Azim Premji leads the global list for India with a net worth of $ 15.3 billion

The Forbes global rich list boasts 123 billionaires, including six Indians, who derived their fortunes from tech ventures. Because of the tech boom and a strong stock market, the US once again led the world with 492 billionaires, followed by China (152) and Russia (111).      

Indian technology billionaires were led by Wipro's Azim Premji, ranked 61, with a net worth of $15.3 billion.

Others were  HCL’s Shiv Nadar, 102, net worth $11.1 billion; Infosys’ N R Narayana Murthy and family (1,046, $1.7 billion); Senapathy Gopalakrishnan and family (1,154, $1.5 billion); Nandan Nilekani and family (1,210, $1.4 billion); and K Dinesh and family (1,540, $1.05 billion).
 
Forbes said the sector and, more specifically, Facebook, had helped drive numerous fortunes lately. The year's biggest dollar gainer was Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune jumped $15.2 billion to $28.5 billion, as shares of his social network soared. More, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg joined the ranks for the first time, as does long-time Vice-President Jeff Rothschild.
      
Also, thanks to a $19-billion deal with Facebook, WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton joined the ranks of Silicon Valley's wealthiest for the first time.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was the richest technology billionaire, with a net worth of $76 billion, followed by Oracle's Larry Ellison who retained the second spot among technology's wealthiest with a fortune of $48 billion.

Forbes said, "Zuckerberg, moved up from ninth to sixth among the top richest techies. Zuck's net worth has doubled this year to an estimated $28.5 billion, putting him in touching distance of Google's Sergey Brin."      

The top-10 technology billionaires include, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, 18, $32 billion; Google's Sergey Brin (19, $31.8 billion); Zuckerberg (21, $28.5 billion); former Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer (36, $19.3 billion); Dell CEO Michael Dell (48, $17.5 billion); Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (56, $15.9 billion); and Azim Premji (61, $15.3 billion).