Mukesh Ambai takes over Gautam Adani to be the richest Indian: Report

Ambani's wealth saw a slight increase of 2 percent, totalling Rs 8.08 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, Gautam Adani experienced a substantial decline in wealth, dropping by 57 percent to Rs 4.74 lakh crore, primarily due to a significant stock market downturn in his group's companies following a report by a US-based short seller.

In January, Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani Group of engaging in accounting fraud and stock market manipulation over several decades.

This led to a sharp decline in the group's stock prices and subsequent reduction in the promoter family's wealth.

The Adani Group has refuted all allegations made by the short seller. The Hurun 2023 list features a total of 1,319 individuals from 138 cities, with August 30 as the reference date for assessing fortunes.

Cyrus Poonwalla, the Managing Director and Chairman of Serum Institute of India (SII) maintained his position as the third wealthiest Indian. His fortune saw a substantial increase of 36 percent, reaching Rs 2.78 lakh crore. Similarly, Shiv Nadar, the founder and chairman of HCL Technologies, held on to his position as the fourth richest Indian, with a notable 23 percent rise in his wealth, amounting to Rs 2.28 lakh crore.

A majority of individuals within the top-10 rankings saw an improvement in their positions. Gopichand Hinduja now holds the fifth spot, followed by Dilip Shanghvi (sixth), L N Mittal (seventh), Kumar Mangalam (ninth), and Niraj Bajaj (tenth). However, Radhakishan Damani, the founder of D-Mart, experienced an 18 percent decrease in net worth, settling at Rs 1.43 lakh crore.

This shift caused him to drop three ranks, making him the eighth richest Indian.

Radha Vembu of Zoho has surpassed Falguni Nayar to become the wealthiest self-made Indian woman. Meanwhile, Kaivalya Vohra of Zepto holds the distinction of being the youngest individual on the list.

Mahendra Ratilal Mehta, aged 94, serving as the MD and CEO of Precision Wires India, made his debut on the list.

As per Hurun's report, India has seen the addition of two new billionaires approximately every three weeks over the past year, resulting in a total of 259 billionaires.

This marks a significant 4.4-fold increase over the span of 12 years.

It's worth noting that, despite concerns about wealth disparities, 51 people on the list have seen their wealth double this year, compared to 24 in the previous year.