Ola founders youngest on super rich Indians list

The debutants include Ola founders Ankit Bhati, 28, and Bhavish Aggarwal, 29, who are also the youngest on the list. 

The new-age entrepreneurship boom in India is being reflected in the ranks of the wealthiest Indians, with several first-timers entering the super rich list. The debutants include Ola founders Ankit Bhati, 28, and Bhavish Aggarwal, 29, who are also the youngest on the list. With their personal fortunes estimated at Rs 2,385 crore each, the duo are jointly ranked 238th. 

While the top spots are occupied by familiar faces, with Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani ranked numero uno with a net worth of Rs 1.6 lakh crore, the list also throws up some surprises. 

For example, the Indian who posted the biggest gain in wealth over the past year is reported to be Dhiraj Rajaram, the 40-year-old founder of Bengaluru-based analytics firm Mu Sigma. Rajaram saw his personal fortune rise six-fold, to Rs 17,800 crore. His ranking has risen 127 positions to No. 38, according to the Hurun India Rich List for 2015. 

There are 76 new faces among the 296 who made it to the list this year, with the cut-off level being personal wealth of Rs 1,600 crore. Apart from Ola's Bhati and Aggarwal, other prominent tech entrepreneurs on the list include Flipkart's Sachin Bansal, 34, and Binny Bansal, 34, whose estimated wealth of Rs 9,010 crore each puts them at the 85th spot, a rise of 58 positions. Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl, 32, is a new entrant, jumping straight to the 243rd spot with a wealth of Rs 2,314 crore. 

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, 38, of mobile wallet and e-commerce firm Paytm, and Naveen Tewari, 39, of the mobile ad network InMobi are also new entrants. 

Most of these technology and internet companies have raised significant amounts of private equity capital at substantial valuations over the past year. Flipkart's latest fund raise valued the firm at $15 billion, and Snapdeal's valued it close to $5 billion. Most of the new-age startup founders are also exceptional in that they are self-made; 85% of those in the list are part of family businesses.

 

"Despite the weakening of the stock market and the rupee, the Hurun India Rich List expanded by 76 entrepreneurs, showing the resilience and dynamism of the Indian private sector," said Anas Rahman Junaid, India head, Hurun Report. The Hurun Report was started by researcher Rupert Hoogewerf. The first report, in 1999, was on the rich in China, and Hoogewerf has since been regularly bringing out a China rich list. The India initiative began two years ago. 

Among the biggest gainers this year are also Sameer Gehlaut of the diversified conglomerate Indiabulls (445% increase in wealth to Rs 9,800 crore) and B K Goenka of steel and textile company Welspun (308% increase to Rs 9,820 crore). 

At the top, Mukesh Ambani was followed by Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharma, S P Hinduja & family of the Hinduja Group, Shiv Nadar of HCL, and Pallonji Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. 

For the first time, Wipro chairman Azim Premji fell off the top 5 rankings. He's now at the seventh spot, with his net worth plummeting 59% to Rs 51,900 crore, on account of his philanthropic donations. Premji has been steadily transferring significant amounts of his shareholding to his philanthropic trust, and is committed to eventually transferring at least 50% of his shareholding to such causes. 

The number of dollar billionaires this year has jumped to 124 individuals, up by 15 from last year. While Mumbai dominated the rich list with 29% of the individuals living in the city, Delhi came in second with 19%, followed by Bengaluru with 8%. 

The newest non-family run businesses are tending to create more millionaires per company. This year's list has five individuals from Infosys, four from Micromax, and four from Lava International.