Steel king Lakshmi Mittal beats Ambani brothers to retain richest Indian crown

"Thanks to a roaring Mumbai stock market, with a benchmark index up 53 percent in the past year, and a strong rupee that appreciated 12 percent, for the first time, all India rich-listers are billionaires. In aggregate, their wealth surged to $351 billion, a bit more than double last year's $170 billion, making India's 40 by far the wealthiest such group in all of Asia," Forbes stated in its special online report published Nov. 14.

"Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who lives in London, is No. 1 again, worth $51 billion, but Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance Industries is India's most valuable company, is quickly closing the gap. His net worth jumped $30.5 billion to $49 billion, making him the year's biggest gainer. His estranged brother Anil is close on his heels, up $30.2 billion to $45 billion. Kushal Pal Singh, worth $35 billion after the listing of his flagship DLF, is now the world's richest real estate developer," author Naazneen Karmali reported.

"The four richest Indians are worth an astonishing $180 billion. Together, the foursome is worth more than the 40 richest Chinese combined," Karmali said.

Out of the forty, "twenty-nine of the people who returned to the list are richer than last year," the report said, with the exception of "Rahul Bajaj, who is battling his younger sibling over dividing their empire, and whose fortune was flat at $2.3 billion."

Ten newcomers have made the cut this time, including Guatam Adani, who built Mundra Port on India's west coast; Anand Jain, Mukesh Ambani's school buddy; and Gautum Thapar, whose Ballarpur Industries is India's largest paper maker.

"The red-hot real estate sector churned out a couple more billionaires as well: Niranjan Hiranandani, a surgeon's son, who built a thriving township in suburban Mumbai, along with his brother; and Rakesh Wadhawan, whose July listing of his company Housing Development & Infrastructure made him a billionaire," the report published on November 14, said.