Mukesh Ambani ($27 billion)
Mukesh Dhirubai Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, topped the Forbes India rich list for the third consecutive time. He owns one of the largest private sector conglomerates in the world and is touted as the fourth richest man in the world. His wife Nita runs the IPL team Mumbai Indians. He lost 15% of his wealth last year.
Laxmi Mittal (NRI) ($26.1)
Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaking company, made it to the second spot in the Forbes India rich list. Laxmi Mittal began his career working in the family's steelmaking business and in 1976, he founded Mittal Steel Company. He later went to Indonesia to establish the international branch of his family business. Mittal Steel currently has operations in 14 countries. His daughter Vanisha's $55 million marriage was one of the most expensive weddings witnessed by the world.
Azim Premji ($17.6 billion)
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Limited, is the third richest man in India. He is the only billionaire with a non-manufacturing background to feature among the world's top 100 billionaires. Premji started the Azim Pemji Foundation in 2001 which works mainly in the field of education. On December 2, 2010 he pledged $2 billion of Wipro's shares to the Indian government for the cause of education. Premji gained 18% of his wealth over last year.
Shashi and Ravi Ruia ($15 billion)
Shashi and Ravi Ruia, chairman and vice-chairman of the Essar Group, with a net worth of $15 million (their last year's worth was $ 13.6 billion) occupy the fourth place is the richest Indians list. Essar began as a construction company in 1969. Over four decades, the Ruias built Essar Group into a $15 billion conglomerate whose interests include steel, oil, shipping, power, telecom and construction.
Savitri Jindal ($14.4 billion)
Savitri Jindal is the only woman who makes it to the first 10 of the rich Indians list. The Indian steel baroness is the non-executive chairperson of Jindal Steel and Power Limited and JSW Steel. Savitri Jindal, a quintessential Indian woman, became the chairperson after her husband, OP Jindal, died in a plane crash in 2005. She is also a member of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha and she served as Minister of Power in the Government of Haryana until 2010.
Anil Ambani ($13.3 billion)
Anil Ambani lost 24% of his wealth in the last year forcing him to move down in the rich list. Anil Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 as co-chief executive officer, but after the split in Reliance Group, he founded Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. In one of the largest deals in global cinema in recent times, Reliance ADAG sealed a deal with Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg in 2009 and became a partner in the Los Angeles-based production house, DreamWorks Studios.
Gautam Adani (10.7 billion)
Net worth: 10.7 billion Gautam Adani's wealth has grown by 67% last year, making him the seventh richest Indian. Chairman of the Adani Group, he is the first billionaire from the city of Ahmedabad. Adani, who was a college dropout, came to Mumbai in his teens. After trying his luck in Mumbai, he returned to Ahmedabad and started a small plastic business in the 80s. Today, Adani Group is a multi-billion dollar business empire and one of the leading trading and export companies of India.
Kushal Pal Singh ($9.2 billion)
Kushal Pal Singh is the chairman and CEO of India's largest real estate developer, DLF Limited. DLF Group has an estimated land bank of 3,000 acres in prime city locations. After dabbling with aeronautical engineering in UK, KP Singh returned to India on an army commission. In 1960, he joined American Universal Electric Company and after its merger with DLF Universal Limited in 1979, he took over as the managing director of this new company.
Sunil Mittal ($8.6 billion)
Sunil Mittal's Bharti Enterprises runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service and is the world's fifth largest wireless company with over 190 million customers across 19 countries in Asia and Africa. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area and launched services in the city of Delhi and the National Capital Region in the year 1995. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2007.
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