The net worth of the 10 wealthiest Indians has dropped a hefty 65.1 per cent during the last two months. The broad-based sensex has dropped 30 per cent during the period.
Wipro chairman Azim Premji still remains the richest Indian, but his wealth has plunged from a high of Rs 1,65, 405 crore on February 21_when Wipro hit the highest-ever level of Rs 9,624_to Rs 44,273 crore. That marks a phenomenal drop of 75.15 per cent.
Premji derives his personal wealth from his 75 per cent equity holding in Wipro. The company's market capitalisation now stands at Rs 54,814 crore, down nearly by one-fourth from its peak of Rs 2,20,582 crore, on February 21.
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The Wipro stock took a lot of battering during the last two months, closing 17 times at the lower end of the circuit filter, although it also hit the upper end of the circuit filter 10 times. The growth in ICE stocks had led to phenomenal riches in the sector. ICE baron Subhash Chandra continues at the second position in the ranking of the richest Indians, but he too has seen a hefty 67.5 per cent decline in its networth to Rs 14,333 crore.
Infosys Technologies's Narayana Murthy, who had climbed to the second slot in February, has now slipped to the fourth place with a fall of 33.5 per cent in his net worth which now stands to Rs 6,924 crore.
But as the ICE stocks came under sustained selling pressure, petrochemical major Reliance Industries climbed almost 50 per cent during the period from levels of Rs 200 to Rs 300-plus.
The Vanishing Billions
Rs crore Net worth as on
21-Feb-00 12-May-00 % Chg
Azim H Premji 165,405.05 41,102.92 -75.15
Subhash Chandra 11,144.48 14,333.24 -67.53
Dhirubhai Ambani & Family 15,902.82 13,063.89 -17.85
N R Narayana Murthy 10,416.08 6,923.78 -33.53
Shiv nadra, R Pawar, Vijay Thadani 9,455.85 5,267.16 -44.30
Vinay Maloo, M Nahata, D Malhotra 5,261.02 2,650.72 -49.62
Kumar Mangalm Birla & family 3,468.65 2,692.21 -22.38
B Ramalinga Raju 4,481.32 2,468.32 -44.92
Y K Hamied 3,540.00 2,382.11 -32.71
Malvinder Singh & Shivinder Singh 3,977.53 1,981.11 -50.19