Hurun India Rich List 2024: India’s billionaire count has reached a new milestone, with the country adding a billionaire every five days in the past year, bringing the total number of US dollar billionaires to over 300 for the first time. The 2024 Hurun India Rich List reveals that India now has 334 billionaires, an increase of 75 compared to the previous year.
Anas Rahman Junaid, Founder and Chief Researcher of Hurun India, said, “India continues to score Gold in the ‘Wealth Creation Olympics’.The number of billionaires in 2024 Hurun India Rich List hits triple century, with all the top 20 sectors adding new faces to the list! The top 20 sectors all added new faces, showcasing the unstoppable spirit of Indian entrepreneurs as they drive growth across the board.”
The report also emphasizes India’s growing role as Asia’s wealth-creation powerhouse. While China experienced a 25% decrease in its billionaire population, India saw a 29% increase, reaching a record-breaking 334 billionaires.
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According to an ET report, the Hurun India Rich List now includes 1,539 individuals, representing a wide range of wealth creators, including family-run businesses, startup founders, private equity investors, angel investors, next-generation leaders, and film stars.
The distribution of wealth creation in India has become more geographically diverse and widespread. Over the past decade, the number of Indian cities represented in the rich list has grown from 10 to 97, up from 95 in the previous year, indicating a broader distribution of wealth across the country.
According to the Hurun India report, there are 1,539 individuals in India with a wealth of at least Rs 1,000 crore. When the threshold is raised to Rs 5,000 crore, the list narrows down to 534 high net worth individuals (HNIs).
Junaid estimates that for every one individual on the list, they may have missed two, suggesting that India likely has around 5,000 individuals with a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore or more.
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The report also highlights that the cumulative wealth of India’s richest individuals has risen by 46%, with an average wealth increase of 25%. “1,334 individuals saw their wealth increase or stay the same, of which 272 are new faces, whilst 205 saw their wealth drop and there were 45 dropouts. India has 334 billionaires, up 75 compared to last year. While Real Estate, Industrial Products added the most significant number of new entrants to the list, Industrial Products is still at number one and has contributed 142 entrants to the list,” the report said.
Kaivalya Vohra, the 21-year-old co-founder of quick commerce delivery firm Zepto, is the youngest individual on the list, with an estimated wealth of Rs 3,600 crore. The youngest billionaires are Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, both 33 years old and founders of the payment solutions app Razorpay.
Among the billionaires in India, Gautam Adani‘s family tops the list with a net worth estimated at Rs 11.6 lakh crore, followed by the Ambanis at Rs 10.14 lakh crore. Other notable billionaires include HCL’s Shiv Nadar, ‘vaccine king’ Cyrus S Poonawalla, Dilip Sanghvi, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Hindujas, Radhakishan Damani, Azim Premji, and Niraj Bajaj.