Mukesh Ambani topped the Forbes Rich India List 2021 with a net worth totalling $92.7 billion as of October 5, this year. Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani secured the second spot with a net worth of $74.8 billion.
HCL founder Shiv Nadar, D Mart founder Radhakrishan Damani, Serum Insitute of India founder Cyrus Poonawalla secured the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions respectively.
The report added the Adani Chairman nearly tripled his fortune this year and is fast closing the gap with Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani. The RIL chairman, on the other hand, recorded a modest 4.5 per cent rise in his wealth to $92.7 billion.
Forbes stated the list had six new entrants this year, mostly from the booming chemicals sector. These include Yogesh Kothari of Alkyl Chemicals, Deepak Mehta of Deepak Nitrite and Ashok Boob of the newly-listed Clean Science and Technology.
The pandemic effect and new entrants
In its report, Forbes added that the country's recovery from the more lethal second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic restored global investor confidence. The benchmark Sensex rose 52 per cent from a year ago. This concluded in the nation's richer being richer. "...they are collectively worth a record $775 billion after adding $257 billion—a 50% gain—in the past 12 months," the report stated.
Dr Lal PathLabs which registered a massive surge in testing owing to the COVID-19 pandemic led to its shares doubling this year. Executive Chairman Arvind Lal, therefore, managed to secure a debut spot on the 100 richest list.
