Mukesh Ambani eighth richest in the world: Hurun Global Rich List 2021

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Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL) has emerged as the richest Indian and eight richest in the world, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2021. With a net worth of $83 billion, he is now the second richest in Asia after ‘Bottled Water King’ Zhong Shanshan.

His wealth increased by 24% year-on-year (YoY) in 2020 on the back of a surge in the share price of RIL. The energy-to-telecom behemoth accounts for 8% of the country’s exports and 5% of India’s total revenues from customs and excise duty. Ambani was the ninth richest individual in the world last year.

“Reliance is planning a calculated shift to renewable energy and has decided to venture into the battery-making business ahead of the electric vehicle boom,” the report said.

Overall, Mumbai is by far the billionaire capital with 61, followed by New Delhi with 40. There are a further 32 billionaires of Indian origin, living outside of India, led by LN Mittal of ArcelorMittal in London.

The other billionaires on the list are Gautam Adani & family who saw his wealth almost double to $32 bn, on the back of Adani Green Energy growing to a $20 bn valuation. It was followed by Shiv Nadar & family ($27 bn), NR Narayana Murthy ($3.1 bn). Pankaj Munjal & family of cycle manufacturer Hero Cycles also made it to the list for the first time with $ 1.2 billion on the back of the surging e-bike demand in India.

Overall, Elon Musk of Tesla emerged the world’s richest person, adding $151 bn over the last year, which works out at just under a billion dollars every two days, to take him to $197 bn. The bulk of his wealth is from his 21% share of Tesla, which is worth just under $800bn.

“SpaceX, in which Musk has a 52% share, added $13 bn in value in the past year, after becoming the first private company to put people into orbit, an achievement previously claimed by just three global superpowers. Musk has not been far from the headlines all year, most recently last month, when he announced a $1.5 bn investment from Tesla into bitcoin. Other projects that have gained attention include the Boring Company which has been digging tunnels to operate high-speed rail service around the Las Vegas Convention Center and Neuralink, which aims to create a working brain to machine interface. Curiously, in 2013, Musk almost sold Tesla to Google for $11 bn,” the report said.