Ninety Indian billionaires feature on this year’s Forbes Magazine Rich List. Despite Nepal’s poor political and economic track record, pioneering Nepali industrialist Binod Chaudhary has secured his global position for a third consecutive year.
The 59 year old Nepali tycoon has beaten 26 of India’s 90 billionaires who together represent a combined net worth of US $295 billion.
A quick study of the Rich List by southasia.com.au reveals India and Nepal are the only two South Asian nations to be represented in the prestigious global list.
Chaudhary is one of 85 billionaires who are ranked 1415th on this year’s Rich List. He is worth US $1.3 billion, an impressive increase from $1.1 billion last year given Nepal’s socio-economic context.
Forbes describes the president of the Cinnovation/CG Group as Nepal’s only billionaire who made most of his fortune abroad. According to Forbes, “His biggest asset is a controlling stake in Nepal’s Nabil Bank, but CG’s better known brands are its Wai Wai instant noodles and Nepal Ice beer.” Chaudhary, who acquired ‘a strategic stake’ in India’s Fern Hotel Chain, is building new hotels there as well as in Africa and Dubai.
Worth US $21 billion, Dhirubhai Ambani’s eldest son Mukesh Ambani heads the 90-strong gang of Indian billionaires. This is the eighth consecutive time he has been the richest Indian while globally he has moved one step up from the 40th in 2014 to 39th this year. His younger brother Anil Ambani is at 418th position with net worth of US $4 billion.
In its annual ranking of the planet’s super rich persons which was made public on March 2, Forbes named Bill Gates as the richest billionaire of the planet. Worth US $79.2 billion, this is the 16th time the technology guru topped the list since Forbes instituted its Rich List 29 years ago. He was worth US $76 billion last year.
Telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu is billionaire number 2 with US $77.1 billion (US $72 billion last year) while Warren Buffett is world number 3 with US $72.7 billion.
An impressive 1826 billionaires made the list this year as against only 1645 in 2014. They together represent a net worth of US $7.05 trillion, up from US $6.4 trillion last year. According to Forbes, “1,191 members, or roughly two-thirds of the list, were self-made billionaires. 230 inherited their wealth; another 405 inherited at least a portion but are still growing it.”
This year, Warren Buffett was the biggest winner as his fortune increased by US $14.5 billion for a total current net worth of US $72.7 billion. The biggest loser on the other hand was Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote (ranked 67th) whose net worth decreased from US $25 billion in 2014 to US $14.7 billion this year.
On a more positive note, there has been a 15% increase in the number of women who made the list this year. There are 197 (29 of them were self-made) as against only 172 last year.
There is good news for the social media fans too. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (number 16) is worth US $33.4 billion this year and with this he made it into the top 20 for the first time.
There are 290 newcomers this year, Forbes states, out of whom 71 hail from China. A record 46 among the ranks are under age 40.
The southasia.com.au has compiled a list of Indian and Nepali billionaires:
| Global Rank | Name | Net Worth US$ billlions |
Age | Source | Country of Citizenship |
| 39 | Mukesh Ambani | $21 | 57 | petrochemicals, oil & gas | India |
| 44 | Dilip Shanghvi | $20 | 59 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 48 | Azim Premji | $19.10 | 69 | software | India |
| 66 | Shiv Nadar | $14.80 | 69 | information technology | India |
| 82 | Lakshmi Mittal | $13.50 | 64 | steel | India |
| 142 | Kumar Birla | $9 | 47 | commodities | India |
| 185 | Uday Kotak | $7.20 | 55 | banking | India |
| 208 | Gautam Adani | $6.60 | 52 | commodities, infrastructure | India |
| 208 | Sunil Mittal | $6.60 | 57 | telecom | India |
| 208 | Cyrus Poonawalla | $6.60 | 73 | vaccines | India |
| 254 | Desh Bandhu Gupta | $5.80 | 77 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 283 | Savitri Jindal | $5.30 | 64 | steel | India |
| 291 | Micky Jagtiani | $5.20 | 63 | retail | India |
| 330 | Adi Godrej | $4.80 | 72 | consumer goods | India |
| 330 | Jamshyd Godrej | $4.80 | 66 | consumer goods | India |
| 360 | Shashi & Ravi Ruia | $4.50 | – | diversified | India |
| 393 | Subhash Chandra | $4.20 | 64 | media | India |
| 405 | Benu Gopal Bangur | $4.10 | 83 | cement | India |
| 418 | Anil Ambani | $4 | 55 | diversified | India |
| 435 | Vikram Lal | $3.90 | 72 | motorcycles | India |
| 435 | Pankaj Patel | $3.90 | 61 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 452 | Brijmohan Lall Munjal | $3.80 | 91 | motorcycles | India |
| 512 | Mangal Prabhat Lodha | $3.40 | 59 | real estate | India |
| 512 | Kushal Pal Singh | $3.40 | 83 | real estate | India |
| 603 | Indu Jain | $3 | 78 | media | India |
| 603 | Sudhir & Samir Mehta | $3 | – | diversified | India |
| 628 | Kalanithi Maran | $2.90 | 49 | media | India |
| 714 | Baba Kalyani | $2.60 | 66 | engineering | India |
| 714 | Rajan Raheja | $2.60 | 60 | diversified | India |
| 737 | Rahul Bajaj | $2.50 | 76 | motorcycles | India |
| 737 | M.A. Yusuff Ali | $2.50 | 59 | retail | India |
| 782 | Ashwin Dani | $2.40 | 72 | paints | India |
| 782 | Rishad Naoroji | $2.40 | 63 | consumer goods | India |
| 782 | Ravi Pillai | $2.40 | 61 | construction | India |
| 810 | Kuldip Singh & Gurbachan Singh Dhingra | $2.30 | – | paints | India |
| 810 | P.V. Ramprasad Reddy | $2.30 | 56 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 810 | Malvinder & Shivinder Singh | $2.30 | – | healthcare | India |
| 847 | Chandru Raheja | $2.20 | 74 | real estate | India |
| 894 | Rakesh Jhunjhunwala | $2.10 | 54 | investments | India |
| 894 | Habil Khorakiwala | $2.10 | 72 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 894 | N.R. Narayana Murthy | $2.10 | 68 | software services | India |
| 949 | Ajay Piramal | $2 | 59 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 949 | Sunny Varkey | $2 | 57 | education | India |
| 1044 | Murali Divi | $1.90 | 63 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 1044 | Senapathy Gopalakrishnan | $1.90 | 59 | software services | India |
| 1054 | Anil Agarwal | $1.80 | 61 | mining, metals | India |
| 1054 | Yusuf Hamied | $1.80 | 78 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 1054 | Nirav Modi | $1.80 | 44 | diamond jewelry | India |
| 1105 | Nandan Nilekani | $1.80 | 59 | software services | India |
| 1118 | Ravi Jaipuria | $1.70 | 60 | soft drinks | India |
| 1118 | Ranjan Pai | $1.70 | 42 | education | India |
| 1118 | B.R. Shetty | $1.70 | 73 | healthcare | India |
| 1190 | Venugopal Dhoot | $1.60 | 63 | electronics | India |
| 1190 | Jitendra Virwani | $1.60 | 49 | real estate | India |
| 1226 | Vivek Chand Burman | $1.60 | 77 | consumer goods | India |
| 1250 | Devendra Jain | $1.50 | 86 | chemicals | India |
| 1250 | Lachhman Das Mittal | $1.50 | 84 | tractors | India |
| 1250 | Mofatraj Munot | $1.50 | 70 | real estate | India |
| 1312 | Anu Aga | $1.50 | 72 | engineering | India |
| 1324 | Radhe Shyam Agarwal | $1.40 | 70 | consumer goods | India |
| 1324 | Anand Burman | $1.40 | 62 | consumer goods | India |
| 1324 | Radhe Shyam Goenka | $1.40 | 69 | consumer goods | India |
| 1324 | Sanjiv Goenka | $1.40 | 54 | diversified | India |
| 1386 | Harsh Mariwala | $1.40 | 63 | consumer goods | India |
| 1415 | Sameer Gehlaut | $1.30 | 40 | finance | India |
| 1415 | Harsh Goenka | $1.30 | 57 | diversified | India |
| 1500 | K. Dinesh | $1.30 | 60 | software services | India |
| 1500 | Vikas Oberoi | $1.30 | 44 | real estate | India |
| 1533 | Hasmukh Chudgar | $1.20 | 81 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 1533 | Vinod Gupta | $1.20 | 69 | electrical equipment | India |
| 1533 | Aloke Lohia | $1.20 | 56 | petrochemicals | India |
| 1533 | Anand Mahindra | $1.20 | 59 | automobiles | India |
| 1605 | Shishir Bajaj | $1.20 | 67 | consumer goods | India |
| 1605 | Abhay Firodia | $1.20 | 70 | automobiles | India |
| 1605 | G.V. Prasad | $1.20 | 54 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 1605 | Satish Reddy | $1.20 | 47 | pharmaceuticals | India |
| 1605 | S.D. Shibulal | $1.20 | 60 | software services | India |
| 1605 | V.G. Siddhartha | $1.20 | 55 | retail | India |
| 1638 | Niranjan Hiranandani | $1.10 | 64 | real estate | India |
| 1638 | Surendra Hiranandani | $1.10 | 60 | real estate | India |
| 1638 | Kishore Mariwala | $1.10 | 80 | consumer goods | India |
| 1638 | Azad Moopen | $1.10 | 61 | healthcare | India |
| 1638 | Sanjay Singal | $1.10 | 55 | steel | India |
| 1712 | Achal Bakeri | $1.10 | 55 | air coolers | India |
| 1712 | Amit Burman | $1.10 | 45 | consumer goods | India |
| 1712 | T.S. Kalyanaraman | $1.10 | 67 | jewelry | India |
| 1741 | Sidharth Burman | $1 | 70 | consumer goods | India |
| 1741 | Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw | $1 | 61 | biotechnology | India |
| 1741 | Subhash Runwal | $1 | 71 | real estate | India |
| 1741 | Bhadresh Shah | $1 | 63 | engineering | India |
| Combined Total Worth | $295.10 | ||||
| 1415 | Binod Chaudhary | $1.3 B | 59 | diversified | Nepal |
