Top 10 richest persons in India in 2022

India has generated a good number of billionaires, many of them even ranking substantially among the richest persons in the world. Hailing from a variety of industry backgrounds, Indian billionaires have helped build the country’s economy in a significant way. Wealth is bound to fluctuate under the volatile market conditions, especially since most billionaires have their fortune invested in publicly traded stocks. Here is the latest ranking of 10 richest persons in India in 2022 as per ‘The World’s Real Time Billionaires 2022’ published by Forbes.

1. Gautam Adani and family

India’s first richest person, Gautam Adani & family has a staggering net worth of $135.8 billion. Gautam Adani controls the Mundra Port, which is the largest in Gujarat. Adani Group has its interests spread across sectors like power generation and transmission, real estate, commodities and infrastructure. In September 2020, Adani acquired a 74% stake in the second busiest airport of India, the Mumbai International Airport. Adani also owns a coal mining project in Australia known as Abbot Point.

2. Mukesh Ambani

Scoring tenth place among the richest persons in the world in 2022, Mukesh Ambani has $91 billion in net worth. The founder and chairman of Reliance Industries has his interests across petrochemicals, oil and gas, retail and telecom. The launch of 4G phone services in the Indian telecom market by Reliance in 2016 spiked a price war creating strong whirls and sending several networks out of business. During the COVID-19 lockdown period, Mukesh Ambani sold one third of Jio to some investors like Google and Facebook raising over $20 billion.

3. Shiv Nadar

Shiv Nadar, the cofounder of HCL ranks in the third place among India’s richest billionaires with his wealth estimated at $25.5 billion in 2022. HCL started in 1976 manufacturing calculators and microprocessors and today it is among the largest providers of software services in the country with a $102 billion revenue. HCL technologies has employed 169,000 people across 50 countries. After Shiv Nadar stepped down as the CEO of HCL in 2020, his daughter occupied his seat. Shiv Nadar is currently chairman emeritus. A leading philanthropist in the country, he has given away over $662 million to Shiv Nadar Foundation to support causes related to education.

4. Cyrus Poonawalla

Cyrus Poonawalla’s net worth stands at $21.6 billion making him the fourth richest person in India in 2022. He founded Serum Institute of India in 1966, which is today the largest vaccine maker in the world in terms of doses. The firm produces more than 1.5 billion doses of a variety of vaccines for flu, polio and measles. His son Adar is the CEO of Serum which has also invested around $800 million to build a new factory producing Covid-19 vaccines.

5. Radhakishan Damani

Radhakishan Damani’s $17.7 billion net worth places him in the fifth place among India’s richest persons. The champion of Avenue Supermarket, he became the retail king of the country after the supermarket chain completed the I|PO in March 2017. He started retailing in India with just one supermarket in the suburb of Mumbai. Now the retail chain has over 221 DMart stores across the country. Damani has his stakes in other businesses like the tobacco firm VST and India Cements. He owns the 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibag, which is a famous beachfront getaway near Mumbai.

6. Savitri Jindal and family

With their $17.3 billion net worth in 2022, Savitri Jindal and family occupy the sixth position among the richest persons in India. The interests of Jindal Group range across power, cement, infrastructure and steel. The group is now chaired by Savitri Jindal, widow of Om Prakash Jindal who founded the Jindal Group. In 2005, Om Prakash Jindal died in a helicopter crash after which the group’s firms were divided under his four sons.

7. Dilip Shanghvi

Dilip Shanghvi’s $16.2 billion net worth places him in the seventh position among the country’s richest persons in 2022. In 1983, his father gave him $200 to start Sun Pharma manufacturing psychiatric drugs. Today, the firm is among the nation’s leaders in pharmaceutical supplies with an annual revenue of $4.5 billion. Sun Pharma grew through several acquisitions and the notable one was the purchase of Ranbaxy Laboratories in 2014 in a deal worth $4 billion. Over the recent past, Shanghvi has also invested in oil and gas and renewable energy.

8. Lakshmi Mittal

The eighth rank in the list of India’s richest persons in 2022 is scored by Lakshmi Mittal who has a net worth of $15.9 billion. He is the chairman of ArcelorMittal, the largest steel and mining company of the world in terms of output, generating $53.3 billion in revenue. In 2019, Arcelor and Nippon Steel acquired Essar Steel, earlier controlled by billionaires Ravi Ruia and Shashi. After ceding the firm’s CEo position to his son Aditya Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal continues to be Arcelor Mittal’s executive chairman.

9. Sunil Mittal and family

The ninth place in the list of India’s top 10 richest persons is occupied by Sunil Mittal with his $15.7 billion net worth. Founder and chairperson of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal, a first-generation entrepreneur is the owner of India's second largest telecom company – Bharti Airtel. Mittal is also known to work towards educating India through the Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises.

10. Kumar Birla

Kumar Birla is the tenth richest person in India with his $15.1 billion net worth. Known as the commodities king, he is the head of the Aditya Birla Group making $46 billion in revenue. The group has its interests in aluminum and cement besides offering telecom and financial services too. In August 2021, Kumar Birla stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone India, a debt strapped firm after which Idea Cellular and Vodafone India merged in 2018.