Close to two-thirds of the list’s entrants are less well-off this year, including the country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani
[SINGAPORE] The combined fortunes of the 100 richest people in India on the 2025 Forbes list fell 9 per cent or US$100 billion to US$1 trillion.
This was primarily driven by a weakened rupee and a 3 per cent decline in the benchmark Sensex index from the time their fortunes were last measured, Forbes said on Oct 9.
Close to two-thirds of the individuals on the list were less well-off this year, including India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. The chairman and managing director of behemoth Reliance Industries, which has businesses across oil and telecommunications sectors, has retained his first place position on this year’s list.
While Ambani’s fortune has slumped by 12 per cent or US$14.5 billion, he remains a centibillionaire with a US$105 billion net worth.
Infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani and his family came in at second position on the list, with a US$92 billion fortune. The Adani Group founder and chairman got reprieve in September when India’s stock market regulator cleared him and his companies of fraud claims lodged by US short-seller Hindenburg Research in 2023.
The allegations sparked major sell-offs of shares of the group’s companies in 2023, and wiped out US$150 billion in market value in their immediate aftermath.
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Savitri Jindal and her family, who are behind the steel and power conglomerate Jindal Group, retained third spot on the list, although their net worth shrank by US$3.5 billion to US$40.2 billion.
Jindal is the widow of the group’s founder Om Prakash Jindal. She has been named India’s wealthiest woman in several media reports as well as by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Telco magnate Sunil Mittal, the founder of one of India’s largest mobile phone operators and Singtel associate Bharti Airtel, climbed three places to fourth position, which he last occupied in 2008. Mitta’s net worth, which is shared with his family, swelled by US$3.5 billion to US$34.2 billion.
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As the biggest dollar gainer, Mittal dethroned last year’s fourth richest, tech billionaire Shiv Nadar, who retreated to fifth position. With a US$33.2 billion net worth, Nadar is the co-founder of HCL Technologies, one of India’s largest software services providers.
Coming in at sixth place was supermarket mogul Radhakishan Damani and his family, with a US$28.2 billion net worth.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries founder Dilip Shanghvi and his family came in at seventh position with a net worth of US$26.3 billion. He founded the company, which is India’s top drugmaker, in 1983.
The Bajaj family behind Mumbai-based conglomerate Bajaj Group stood in eighth position with a fortune of US$21.8 billion. The Bajaj Group conducts business operations from bike manufacturing to financial services.
Healthcare billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla ranked as India’s ninth richest, with a wealth of US$21.4 billion. Poonawalla founded Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers.
Rounding up the top 10 is Kumar Birla who heads the Aditya Birla Group. The group’s sprawling business interests span industries including textiles, cement, retail, financial services and real estate. Birla, India’s 10th richest person, has a US$20.7 billion fortune.
