Indian billionaires double in numbers

Australian News.Net
Sunday 14th March, 2010

India’s mega-rich are fast exceeding figures from last year, in which Forbes Magazine said there were 24 billionaires in India.

Now there are 49, with a combined net worth of over $222 billion.

Two of the Indian billionaires are among the five richest men in the world.

India’s richest billionaire is Mukesh Ambani, who is also Asia’s richest man and the fourth richest in the world.

His Reliance Industries is the country's largest firm, with a net worth of $29 billion.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, based in London, comes next with a net worth of $28.7 billion.

While much of the wealth in India was struck during a five year period when the economy grew by nearly nine percent until the slowdown in 2008, the country’s rapid emergence from the global financial crisis has meant a revival of capital markets and the fortunes of India’s most wealthy.

According to the World Bank, nearly one-third of the world's poor are in India, with half of them living on less than $1.25 a day.

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