Who are the top 10 richest people in India? As India’s economy experiences exponential growth, that might frequently be a question you wonder about. A record number of Indians, 200 in total, have made it to Forbes’ 2024 World’s Billionaires list.
To probably no one’s surprise, Mukesh Ambani tops the list, and it goes on to include eminent personalities like Gautam Adani and Shiv Nadar.
In this post, we bring you a list of the top 10 richest people in India courtesy of Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires rankings, which keep an eye out for billionaires globally.
The information provided corresponds to data collected on July 8, 2024.
The top 10 richest people in 2024
| Name & India Rank | Global Rank | Net worth (US$) | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Mukesh Ambani | 11 | $124.2 B | Reliance Industries |
| #2 Gautam Adani | 20 | $83.0 B | Adani Group |
| #3 Savitri Jindal & Family | 31 | $41.8 B | JSW Group |
| #4 Shiv Nadar | 49 | $34.1 B | HCL Technologies |
| #5 Dilip Shanghvi | 72 | $25.8 B | Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd |
| #6 Kumar Birla | 83 | $23.7 B | Aditya Birla Group |
| #7 Cyrus Poonawalla | 89 | $22.4 B | Serum Institute of India |
| #8 Radhakishan Damani | 91 | $21.6 B | Avenue Supermarkets |
| #9 Kushal Pal Singh | 102 | $18.6 B | DLF Limited |
| #10 Ravi Jaipura | 106 | $18.1 B | Varun Beverages |
Mukesh Ambani
- Age: 67 Years
- Source of Wealth: Reliance Industries Ltd
Mr Mukesh Ambani, the Managing Director and Chairman of Reliance Industries, is India’s wealthiest individual. As reported by Forbes, Reliance Industries has a revenue of over Rs 9.03 lakh crore ($109.4 billion). It is involved in diverse sectors such as petrochemicals, oil and gas, retail, telecom, and more. Ambani’s three children, Akash, Anant, and Isha, are actively involved in managing different divisions of the conglomerate.
Gautam Adani
- Age: 62 Years
- Source of Wealth: Adani Group
Gautam Shantilal Adani, an Indian billionaire industrialist, is renowned as the founder and chairman of the Adani Group. This multinational conglomerate is involved in port operations and development within India. The Adani Foundation, established by Gautam Adani in 1996, has his wife, Priti Adani, serving as its chairperson. The group’s business interests encompass various sectors, including ports, airports, power generation and transmission, and green energy. Adani is recognised as India’s largest airport operator and also controls Gujarat’s Mundra Port, the country’s largest.
In January 2023, Hindenburg Research, a US firm, accused Adani and his companies of financial fraud and stock market manipulation. After the report was released, the stocks of Adani Group companies have been in free fall, resulting in a wipeout of over $120 billion in their market value. The market value recovered when the Supreme Court ruled in the group’s favour a year later.
Savitri Jindal & family
- Age: 74 Years
- Source of Wealth: OP Jindal Group
Savitri Jindal is an Indian politician and entrepreneur who holds the esteemed position of emeritus chair at the OP Jindal Group. The various divisions of the business are run by her four sons: Prithviraj, Sajjan, Ratan and Naveen Jindal. Further, JSW Sports, the sports division of the JSW Group, operates as part of the conglomerate that spans India, the US, South America, Europe, and Africa. Its objective is to actively contribute to developing a vibrant sports ecosystem in India. Savitri Jindal is the richest woman in India.
Shiv Nadar
- Age: 78 Years
- Source of Wealth: HCL Enterprise
Shiv Nadar is the proprietor of the HCL group and a pioneer of the IT industry in India. HCL boasts renowned clientele such as Cisco, Microsoft, and Boeing. In recognition of his remarkable contributions to the IT industry, the Indian government bestowed Mr Nadar with the Padma Bhushan, India’s esteemed third-highest civilian distinction, in 2008. Mr Nadar is a highly respected philanthropist. He has donated Rs 2,042 crore in late 2023 to various causes.
Dilip Shanghvi
- Age: 68 Years
- Source of Wealth: Sun Pharmaceuticals
Dilip Shanghvi is a prominent Indian business tycoon and the visionary behind Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, the first Indian pharma company with a $5 billion valuation. He grew Sun through a series of acquisitions, the biggest of which was the 2014 purchase of scandal-tainted rival Ranbaxy Laboratories for $4 billion.
Kumar Birla
- Age: 57 Years
- Source of Wealth: Aditya Birla Group
Recognised as a prominent figure in the field of commodities, Kumar Birla assumes leadership over the Aditya Birla Group. Apart from its involvement in the aluminium and cement sectors, the group also provides financial services. Birla also held the role of the non-executive chairman of the Vodafone Idea telecommunications company; however, he stepped down in 2021 as the entity got riddled with more debts. As of 2024, the company has appointed Birla as a non-executive director. He was recently made additional director of boards of Vodafone Idea when Vodafone Idea made ₹18,000 crore FPO, the largest in India’s history, which was seen as a success and the beginning of “Vodafone Idea 2.0,” focused on network upgrades and 5G rollout. Recently, Birla’s children, Ananya and Aryaman, have joined his board of flagship companies.
Cyrus Poonawalla
- Age: 83 Years
- Source of Wealth: Serum Institute of India
Cyrus Poonawalla, a prominent figure in vaccine development within India, stands as the primary beneficiary of the expanding sales and earnings through his ownership of the privately held Serum Institute of India. Assisting him in its management is his son Adar. The institute is headquartered in Pune. Notably, the Serum Institute has the prestigious title of being the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. The recent increase in Cyrus Poonawalla’s wealth can largely be attributed to the widespread utilisation of the Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by the SII. Recently, Cyrus Poonawalla came on the political radar for being a top donor to NCP in the 2019 elections.
Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani,
- Age: 69 Years
- Source of Wealth: Avenue Supermarts Limited
Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani, an Indian entrepreneur and prominent investor, is renowned as the founder of Avenue Supermarts Limited, which runs almost 336 DMart stores in India. He is also known as India’s retail king, having started his journey from Mumbai in 2002. Additionally, he exercises control over his investment ventures via his company, Bright Star Investments Limited. He has stakes in VST and India Cement, and his property portfolio also includes Radisson Blu Resort in Alibaug.
Kushal Pal Singh
- Age: 92
- Source of Wealth: DLF Limited
Property baron Kushal Pal Singh is chairman emeritus of DLF, India’s biggest listed real estate firm by market cap. Singh is an army veteran. He joined DLF, a company started by his father-in-law, in 1961. He then made DLF City in Gurgaon and served as chairman for more than five decades. He is now chairman emeritus. Today, Rajiv Singh Pal is the chairman of the real estate company and runs the DLF, which has its headquarters in Delhi. It is known that DLF and GIC will start work on a high-end residential property in Delhi in 2022.
Ravi Jaipuria
- Age: 69 Years
- Net Worth: $17.4 B
- Source of Wealth: RJ Corp
Frequently asked questions
1. Who are the top 10 richest women in India?
The top 10 richest women in India as of July 2024 are:
#1 Savitri Jindal
#2 Rekha Jhunjhunwala
#3 Vinod Rai Gupta
#4 Anu Aga
#5 Renuka Jagtiani
#6 Smita Crishna-Godrej
#7 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
#8 Radha Vembu
#9 Falguni Nayar
#10 Leena Tewari
2. Who are the top 10 richest people in the world?
The top 10 richest people in the world (as of July 2024) are:
#1 Elon Musk
#2 Jeff Bezos
#3 Bernard Arnault & family
#4 Mark Zuckerberg
#5 Larry Ellison
#6 Larry Page
#7 Sergey Brin
#8 Warren Buffett
#9 Bill Gates
#10 Steve Ballmer
3. Who is India’s first billionaire?
Nizam Ali of Hyderabad, recognized as the first Indian billionaire, was celebrated by Time magazine in 1937 as “The Richest Man in the World.” Reports suggest substantial wealth remains in an English bank, totalling over Rs 3 billion.
