Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), is the only Indian among the top 10 billionaires in the world, according to the Hurun World Rich List 2023. Ambani surpassed Gautam Adani, with a total wealth of $82 billion.

The list created by Hurun research platform, in collaboration with real estate firm M3M, showed that Ambani ranked 9th internationally despite a 20 per cent fall in his wealth. Ambani has also retained the wealthiest Asian title for the third consecutive year.

According to Hurun research platform, Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani ranked amongst the biggest wealth losers by absolute value in the world. 

Gautam Adani fell to second place as his fortune declined by 35 per cent year-on-year. His net worth stood at $53 billion.

Hurun claimed that over the past year, Adani lost Rs 3,000 crore each week. Following a report by American short-seller Hindenburg in January, Adani's fortune fell more than 60 per cent from its peak. Just before the Hindenburg report, Adani was briefly the world’s second richest person.

Cyrus Poonawalla stood third with a net worth of $28 billion. Shiv Nadar and their family is fourth with $27 billion and Lakshmi Mittal is fifth with $20 billion.

The Hurun Global Rich List 2023 ranked 3,112 billionaires, down from 3,384 last year, from 2,356 companies and 69 countries. The number of billionaires dropped by 8 per cent and their total wealth dropped by 10 per cent compared with last year. 1,078 saw their wealth increase, of which 176 were new faces. 2,479 saw their wealth decrease or stay the same, of which 445 dropped off. 

In terms of number of billionaires, India ranks third in the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List. India has a total of 187 billionaires compared to the US's 691. 30 new faces joined the billionaire group this year. According to Hurun over the last five years, India’s contribution to the global billionaire population has been steadily increasing. Currently, India contributes 8 per cent of the total global billionaire population compared to 4.9 per cent five years ago.

Indian billionaires in 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List – Top 10

Global Rank Global Rank 10yrs Ago Name Wealth $ bn YoY
Change
10 year wealth change Main Company City of residence
9 41 Mukesh Ambani 82 -20% 356% Reliance Mumbai
23 437 Gautam Adani & family 53 -35% 1,225% Adani Ahmedabad
46 261 Cyrus Poonawalla 27 4% 350% Serum Pune
50 105 Shiv Nadar & family 26 -7% 136% HCL New Delhi
76 49 Lakshmi N Mittal 20 -20% 18% ArcelorMittal London
76 93 SP Hinduja & family 20 -13% 67% Hinduja London
98 77 Dilip Shanghvi & family 17 -6% 21% Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Mumbai
107 Not in the list Radhakishan Damani & family 16 -30% Not in the list Avenue Supermarts Mumbai
135 170 Kumar Mangalam Birla & family 14 -22% 75% Aditya Birla Mumbai
135 356 Uday Kotak 14 -13% 180% Kotak Mahindra Bank Mumbai
Source: Hurun Research Institute, 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List
  • Mukesh Ambani, 65, of Reliance Industries, registered a 20 per cent decrease in wealth to $82bn and retained the wealthiest Asian title for the third consecutive year. 
  • With a 35 per cent decrease in wealth, Gautam Adani and family, 60, of Adani Group lost the second richest Asian title to Zhong Shanshan of YST. 
  • With a wealth of $27bn, Cyrus Poonawalla, 81 of Serum Institute of India, is the third richest person in India. 
  • With a wealth of $26bn Shiv Nadar and family, 77, of HCL Technologies, ranked fourth in the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List. 
  • With a wealth of $25bn, Lakshmi N Mittal, 72 of ArcelorMittal, is the wealthiest Indian Immigrant.  
  • SP Hinduja & family, 86, decreased their wealth by $3bn from last year, cumulating at $20bn. 
  • With a wealth of $17bn, Dilip Shanghvi and family, 67, of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is at seventh rank. 
  • With a wealth of $16bn, Radhakishan Damani and family, 67, the founder of DMart, is down 40 positions and dropped out of the Global Top 100. 
  • Aditya Birla’s Kumar Mangalam Birla and family, 55, who saw his wealth decrease by 22 per cent, cumulated his wealth at $14bn in 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List. 
  • With a wealth of $14bn, Uday Kotak, 63, Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, is the tenth richest person in India. 

Biggest losers in 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List

Rank Richest Billionaire Wealth Change ($bn) Wealth ($bn)
1 Jeff Bezos -70 118
2 Elon Musk -48 157
3 Sergey Brin -44 72
4 Larry Page -41 75
5 MacKenzie Scott -35 26
6 Gautam Adani & family -28 53
7 Mukesh Ambani -21 82
8 Zeng Yuqun -18 35
9 Scott Farquhar -17 10
9 Zhang Yiming -17 37
Source: 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List

As per the report, 24 Indian cities produced 187 billionaires. In terms of the number of billionaires who have added $1 billion or more over the last year, India occupies sixth rank in the 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List. Over the last 5 years, Indian billionaires in 2023 M3M Hurun Global Rich List added about $360 billion to their cumulative wealth – which is equivalent to Hong Kong’s GDP.