Billionaires bask in the glory of rupee rise

The rupee's sharp rally may have cost millions of people their jobs in export-oriented sectors, but the country's billionaires "� who owe over one-tenth of their wealth to the currency appreciation "� are not complaining.

There are 54 Indian billionaires in the world with a combined net worth of about $368 billion, according to the US business magazine, Forbes.

However, five of them "� including retail tycoon Kishore Biyani "� owe their entry to this club to a rise of more than 14 per cent in the rupee value over a year.

Besides, the 54 billionaires put together would have been poorer by close to $40 billion had the rupee remained around its year-ago level.

Mukesh Ambani, ranked as the second richest Indian with a net worth of $49 billion, would have been the biggest loser with a loss of over $six billion if the rupee had not appreciated.

Forbes calculated the net worth of all the billionaires based on the foreign exchange rate on November 2, 2007, when a dollar was valued at Rs 39.32. A year ago, the dollar value stood at Rs 44.90 on November 2, 2006.

After Mukesh, his younger brother Anil is the biggest gainer from the rupee rally ($5.6 billion), followed by realtor K P Singh ($4.3 billion).

The rising rupee has been at the centre of criticism by the country's exporters due to business loss.

According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, nearly four million people have lost their jobs and if the rupee rally goes unchecked, this would rise to eight million by March 2008.

Surprisingly, the Indian billionaire club includes a number of names from the export-oriented businesses, such as IT services, pharmaceuticals and automobiles.

While a surge of over 55 per cent in stock market in a year is the biggest contributor to their wealth, the rupee rally is also a major contributor for at least 52 billionaires.

Besides, had the rupee remained at the year-ago level, this year's billionaire list would have cut short by five names "� retailer Kishore Biyani, investment banker Nimesh Kampani, legendary investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and auto barons Hero Honda's Brijmohan Lall Munjal and M&M's Keshub Mahindra.

After deducting the gains through rupee rally, the net worth of all these five would drop to below $1 billion, with a loss of $120-140 million each.

After taking out the gains through rupee appreciation, Mukesh Ambani's wealth would drop to USD 44.6 billion, while that of Anil, Singh and Premji would have been worth USD 39.4 billion, $ 30.6 billion and $ 12.9 billion respectively.