The collapse of Kingfisher Airlines has led to UB group’s chairman, Vijay Mallya losing his billionaire tag in the Forbes India billionaires list. Mallya rank fell to 73rd from 49th place last year as his airline struggles to survive in a mountain of debt and striking workers.
The biggest gainer among the top 100 billionaires list is Dilip Sanghvi, chairman of Sun Pharmaceuticals, who moved into the top 5 billionaire list from India as his company’s share price shot up 48% in the stock markets in the last one year. Another prominent re-entry to the billionaires ranks was Habil Khorakiwala, Chairman of Wockhardt, with a net worth of $ 1.8 billion in one of the most spectacular turnarounds in the recent times.
“The King of good times (as Mr Mallya is known) is having nothing but bad times lately. His (Mallya's) Kingfisher Airlines, weighed down by what is believed to be USD 2 billion in debt, had its license suspended in mid-October after it apparently failed to address Indian regulator's concerns about its ability to operate," the magazine said.
With Mallya set to sell his stake in United Spirits to Diaggio, his personal wealth is expected to fall further. Mallya wealth is now $ 800 million which fell from $ 1.1 billion as per 2011 Forbes Billionaire list.
Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani continued to be the topper in the Forbes list with a combined wealth of $ 21 billion in spite of his fortune sliding for three years in a row. Arcelor Mittal Chairman Lakshmi N Mittal holds on to his number two position while Azim Premji, Chairman of software giant, Wipro is ranked number three. Pallonji Mistry, who has divided his wealth between his two sons -- Tata Sons Dy Chairman Cyrus Mistry and Shapoor, is ranked number four with a combined wealth of $ 9.8 billion.
The other losers are Chairman of Bharti group, Sunil Mittal and Adani group chairman, Gautam Adani. Both moved out of top 10 places. The list is a reflection of the Indian economy as scandals and corruption cases corroded wealth of telecom and mining companies. The slowdown in the economy in the last one year also reduced wealth of many billionaires with both Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal losing $1.6 billion and $ 3 billion of wealth respectively.
The overall net worth of Indian entrepreneurs went up 3.7 per cent to $250 billion as compared to $241 billion last year. Among the young stars of corporate India, Ranjan Pai, 40, promoter of Manipal group, entered the list with a wealth of $ 975 million. The list includes 61 billionaires, four more than in 2011.
The rich man club:
| Mukesh Ambani | $21 billion |
| L N Mittal | $16 billion |
| Azim Premji | $12.2 billion |
| Pallonji Mistry | $9.8 billion |
| Dilip Sanghvi | $9.2 billion |
| Adi Godrej | $9 billion |
| Savitri Jindal | $8.2 billion |
| Shashi & Ravi Ruia | $8.1 billion |
| Hinduja Brothers | $8 billion |
| K M Birla | $7.8 billion |
