Eight women among the top 300 richest Indians

When it comes to India’s richest individuals, the list is usually dominated by Mukesh Ambani, Dilip Shangvi and SP Hinduja. But now women are also figuring in the list, albeit just eight of them.

Indu Jain, part of Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd, is the richest woman in the country with a personal fortune of ₹19,179 crore, according to the Hurun India Rich List 2015 released here on Friday. Overall, she is at the 33rd position in the list of the 300 richest people in India.

Leading ladies Savitri Jindal of Jindal Steel and Power, Mallika Srinivasan of TAFE, and Anu Aga, Ex-Chairperson, Thermax Ltd, with a wealth of ₹15,680 crore, ₹9,561 crore and ₹8,174 crore respectively also feature in list of richest women.

Even though Jindal saw her networth erode by 56 per cent in sync with the stress in metal and mining sector, she is still the second richest woman.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon and Shobhana Bhartia of Hindustan Times Group and Madhu Kapoor of YES Bank also made it to the list. The wealthiest women list was strengthened by a new non-resident Indian entrant Nishita Shah Federbush (₹2,914 crore) from Bangkok with interests in logistics.

Slowdown Bites However, the slowing economy has taken the toll on the country’s richest men and women. Mukesh Ambani saw his networth eroding by three per cent to ₹1.60 lakh crore while his brother Anil with wealth of ₹27,359 crore, slipped 12 rankings to occupy 23{+r}{+d} position.

Dilip Singhvi and SP Hinduja and family occupied the second and third position with a wealth of ₹1.26 lakh crore and ₹1.03 lakh crore.

The combined wealth of 296 richest people in India at $478 billion, equalled 22 per cent of the GDP last year. It was larger than the GDP of the UAE ($402 billion), South Africa ($350 billion) and Singapore ($308 billion).

Hit by the crisis in the metals sector, Kumar Mangalam Birla slipped out off the top 10 list as his wealth eroded by ₹21,967 crore to ₹39,653 crore along with 58 individuals who witness a decline in their wealth. Rata Tata was ranked 69{+t}{+h} in the list with personal wealth of ₹11,317 crore.

Honourable mentions The other members of the billionaire club this year include: Shiv Nadar of HCL (₹94,019 cr); Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji ((₹87,292 cr); LN Mittal of Arcelor Mittal (₹83,359 cr); Azim Premji of Wipro (₹51,903 cr); Gautam Adani of Adani Enterprises (₹47,924 cr); Sunil Bharti Mittal and family, of Bharti Airtel (₹48,537 cr); Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra (₹47,608 cr).