Introduction
India is a growing global economy. It has seen additions to the list of successful entrepreneurs who are making India a global power. Their fortunes decide the future of India Inc. and the economy. Some of the richest entrepreneurs in India are as follows:
Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani is the richest Indian. He is the chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). Ambani has a net worth of $86.2 billion. He has diversified RIL into petrochemicals, telecom, oil and gas, and retail. RIL was established by the late Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966 as a small textile manufacturer. After the demise of Dhirubhai Ambani, the company was jointly run by the Ambani brothers- Mukesh and Anil Ambani. He revolutionized the Indian telecom industry in 2016 with the entry of Jio. Mukesh Ambani has raised more than $20 billion worth of investment into Jio recently. His recent acquisition of Big Bazar is all set to make RIL a prominent retail player in India.
Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani is the chairman of Adani Group and has a net worth of $25.2 billion. He is known as the port tycoon and owns Mundra Port in Gujarat. He established the Adani Group in 1988. Adani has diversified his business into power generation and transmission, edible oil, real estate, and defence. His company has got permission to start mining in Australia in June 2019. Adani Group has also acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport which is the second busiest airport in India. Gautam Adani was ranked as the 3rd most influential Indian in 2019 by India Today.
Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar is the founder of HCL- an Indian pioneer IT company. He set up HCL in 1976 in a garage for making calculators and microprocessors. Shiv Nadar has a net worth of $21.2 billion and the 3rd richest entrepreneur in India. HCL Technologies is the flagship company of the HCL group with a revenue of $9.9 billion. It is the 3rd largest IT company in India in terms of market capitalization. Shiv Nadar is one of the leading philanthropists in India donating $662 million to the Shiv Nadar Foundation. HCL Foundation also works in various development projects across India. He has recently stepped down as the chairman and handed the reigns to his daughter Roshni Nadar.
Radhakrishna Damani
Radhakrishna Damani is a veteran investor who happens to be one of the richest entrepreneurs in India. His net worth stands at $14.8 billion. He forayed into the retail industry in 2002 with a store in suburban Mumbai. Currently, he has more than 214 DMart stores across India. Damani became the retail king of India after the IPO of DMart in 2017. He also maintains his investments through his company- Bright Star Investments Limited. Damani has ventured into other businesses too. He owns 19.89% shares in India Cement. His property portfolio includes a 156-room Radisson Blu Resort in Alibag which is a popular getaway destination from Mumbai.
Cyrus Poonawalla
Cyrus Poonawalla features on the list of successful entrepreneurs in India with a net worth of $11.5 billion. He founded the Serum Institute of India in 1996. It is now the world’s largest vaccine maker in terms of the number of doses. The Serum Institute manufactures more than 1.5 billion doses annually for diseases like measles, flu, polio, etc. The company is one of the leading biotechnology firms in India. It is also in the race for manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine. The Serum Institute has made investments worth $800 million for preparing the COVID-19 vaccine. It has partnered with AstraZeneca and Oxford University for doing Indian trials of the vaccine.
