With 131 Billionaires, India Ranks 3rd in Hurun Global Rich List

With 131 billionaires in the country, India has claimed the third spot in the Hurun Global Rich List 2018 released on Feb. 28. The report, which has been ranking the rich in the world for past seven years, notes that the number would be 170 if Indian-origin billionaires were also considered.

According to the list, which has been topped by China, the number of people with wealth of more than $1 billion grew by more than one a day in the world last year. China recorded four new millionaires every week.

The Shanghai-based report ranks 2,694 billionaires from 68 countries and from 2,157 companies. As per the report, total wealth among them increased by 31 per cent to $10.5 trillion, which is equivalent to 13.2 per cent of the global GDP. It is almost double the 7 per cent global GDP recorded six years ago.

“Never has so much wealth been concentrated in the hands of so few. It has been an outstanding year for billionaires, 1,508 individuals in the list saw their wealth increase and there were 567 new faces,” Hurun report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said.

Hoogewerf added that China, which is adding more billionaires than any country, edged out the United States for the top spot third year running because of “a boom in China, a weak dollar coupled with U.S tax cuts.” Beijing has become the “Billionaire capital of the World,” followed by New York. The city of Guangzhou added 16 billionaires, breaking into the top 10.

“China has 819 billionaires compared with 571 in U.S. Just two years ago, they were neck and neck at 534 and 535. China is going through an amazing period of entrepreneurship, adding 210 billionaires in the past year,” Hoogewerf said.

India, where the combined wealth of billionaires increased by 49 per cent year-on-year to $454 billion, replaced Germany at the third spot. Germany is now at the fifth place. In the 2017 list, India was at 4th position.

“India is now the third largest billionaire-creating country in the world. When India’s GDP touches $6 trillion by 2022, we expect the number of billionaires to at least double from the current number. The story of wealth creation in India talks about the modern businesses and new competition dynamics in India,” Anas Rahman Junaid, managing director and chief researcher, Hurun Report India, said.

According to the report, Mumbai is the most preferred hub for Indian billionaires, followed by New Delhi. Thirty one billionaires have moved out of India to the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.

Among billionaires from around the world, Jeff Bezos tops the list with wealth of $123 billion, a year-on-year growth of 71 per cent. Warren Buffett takes the second spot with $102 billion, a 31 per cent year-on-year increase in his wealth. He is the second person to come on the other side of the $100 billion ceiling. Bill Gates moved to the third place this year, with $90 billion, after donating $4.6 billion worth of Microsoft shares to his foundation last year. It was his largest donation since 2000.

Mark Zuckerberg claims the fourth position as his wealth grew by 36 per cent to $79 billion with a hike in Facebook’s share price. For the first time since the records began, the top 10 on the list are self-made billionaires. In the list, 9.1 per cent of the billionaires are first generation immigrants, led by 64 in the United States, 45 in the United Kingdom and 40 in Switzerland.

Four Indians made it to the list of top 100 billionaires worldwide — Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma, Gautam Adani of Adani Enterprises and Shiv Nadar of HCL Technologies.