Three of the top 10 richest Indians are Parsis, according to the Barclays Hurun India Rich List 2018, posted on their website hurunindia.net on September 26, 2018.
Businessman and philanthropist Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, whose Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume, stands at seventh on the list, with a net worth of Rs 71 thousand crores (USD 9.78 billion). He was at sixth place last year. Siblings and businessmen Cyrus and Shapoor Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group have entered the list at ninth and 10th places with their individual wealth pegged at Rs 69.4 thousand crores (USD 9.56 billion) each. This is mainly due to a 56% increase in the price of the shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), noted the report. The computer giant accounts for 67% of the market capitalization of Tata Sons in which the Mistrys have a shareholding of 18%. The brothers were at the 12th place in 2017.
From l: Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, Shapoor and Cyrus Mistry
Clockwise from top left: Adi and Jamshyd Godrej, Rishad Naoroji Photo: bizbilla.com,
Smita Godrej Crishna, Nadir Godrej
Industrialist Mukesh Ambani retained the top slot on the list for the seventh year, with a net worth of Rs 3.7 lakh crores (USD 51.11 billion), more than the combined wealth of the next three — S. P. Hinduja and family, L. N. Mittal and family and Azim Premji.
At Rs 2.2 lakh crores (USD 30.3 billion) the Godrej family takes second place in the list of 10 richest Indian families, after the Ambanis at Rs 3.9 lakh crore (USD 53.7 billion). The Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry family with wealth of Rs 1.3 lakh crores (USD 17.9 billion) was placed fourth in the list.
The number of Indians with wealth of over Rs 1,000 crores individually has risen from 617 in 2017 to 831 for this year. Established as a research unit in 1999 by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Inc has grown into a leading luxury publishing group based in Shanghai, China.