New Delhi: Looks like the ongoing economic slowdown across the country has also hampered the wealth of some top notch Indian business tycoons. According the 2019 Forbes India Rich List wealth of leading billionaires of the country has shrank by 8 per cent to $452 billion from a year ago. The recent list also states that more than half of India’s 100 richest saw a decline in their net worth. However, the economic crisis has not taken a toll on the wealth of India's richest person Mukesh Ambani as he continues to bag the spot on India's richest person list; for 12th year in a row.


According to Forbes, the 62-year-old Mukesh Ambani's net worth stood at $51.4 billion (around Rs 3.7 lakh crore). Ambani is miles ahead of other Indian billionaires. Ambani added $4.1 billion to his net worth this year as his three-year old telecom unit Jio became India’s largest mobile carriers with as many as 340 million subscribers.

Ambani was followed by Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani who turned out to be a big gainer by jumping eight spots to number 2 this year with a net worth of $15.7 billion. After waiting for nine years, in June Adani got approval to start work on an Australian coal mine proposal. India's second richest man also ventured into several new businesses from airports to data centers.

Other names in the list include: Businessmen Hinduja brothers, construction tycoon Pallonji Mistry, banker Uday Kotak, tech tycoon Shiv Nadar, investor-entrepreneur Radhakishan Damani, the Godrej family, steel baron Lakshmi Mital and industrialist Kumar Birla.

It is also worth noting that there are 6 new entrants in the list of 100 richest people in India. These include Byju Raveendran, founder of edtech firm Byju's; Manohar Lal and Madhusudan Agarwal of Haldiram Snacks, and Rajesh Mehra, owner of the popular Jaquar brand of bathroom fittings.

Unfortunately, billionaire philanthropist Azim Premji saw a sharp fall in his wealth this year and slipped from second 2 stop to 17th. This, however, is due to the donations he made and gave away around $7.5 billion worth of shares in Wipro to his philanthropic foundation.

Here's the list of top 10 richest people in India according to 2019 Forbes India Rich List 

Rank 1 - Mukesh Ambani; USD51.4 billion

Rank 2 - Gautam Adani; USD15.7 billion

Rank 3 - Hinduja brothers; USD15.6 billion

Rank 4 - Pallonji Mistry; USD15 billion

Rank 5 - Uday Kotak; USD14.8 billion

Rank 6 - Shiv Nadar; USD14.4 billion

Rank 7 - Radhakishan Damani: USD14.3 billion

Rank 8 - Godrej family; USD12 billion

Rank 9 - Lakshmi Mittal; USD10.5 billion

Rank 10 - Kumar Birla; USD9.6 billion

According to Forbes India, this list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and India’s regulatory agencies. The ranking lists family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as the Godrej and Bajaj families. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 27. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.