Four Indians are among the 10 richest in the world, the highest number from a single country, according to Forbes’ list of world’s billionaires.
While Warren Buffet, the Berkshire Hathaway investor, takes the title of the world’s richest man from Microsoft chief Bill Gates who slips to third place after a 13-year reign at the top, Britain-based industrialist Lakshmi Mittal has climbed one spot from last year to be ranked fourth this year in the US magazine’s annual list of billionaires released on Wednesday. With a net worth of $45 billion, Mittal heads the world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal.
Just behind Mittal is Mukesh Ambani at No 5. With a net worth of $43 billion, he is Asia’s richest resident. His fortune is up $22.9 billion since last year, making him the world’s second biggest gainer in terms of dollars. His rank last year was 14.
Mukesh’s estranged brother Anil Ambani is the biggest gainer. He now ranks sixth in the world, climbing 12 places from last year. He gained $23.8 billion over the year and is now worth $42 billion.
KP Singh, chief of real estate developer DLF, has climbed from 62nd place to eighth, helped by his company’s listing which tripled his fortune to $30 billion. He is World’s richest real estate developer.
Watch Forbes Video on India’s Richest
Source: Forbes, Hindustan Times
Guys !!! Four Indians in Top 10 World’s Richest .. Thats something .. Aint it? Please discuss ..
chak de india.
This clearly shows How in India the wealth is not being distributed down the line. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Look at our neighbor China, being such a big country with more industrialization than India, highly populated, more natural resources, more Developed yet there is not Single person in the top 10 List. Why? and what is the Difference?
China has increased its defence budget the other day to $54 billion, it is hosting the olympics, it is building the mega projects like the three georges dam and also the linking of rivers across the country to supply water to all corners of the nation in all seasons, it has undertaken biggest railway projects that extend from the length and breadth of the country, it has started building oil pipeline from middle east to china, these are just a few. Incontrast India is not able to under take any big projects on its own, it has to tie-up with private companies to form joint ventures to build and maintain the projects. These are to name a few..
New major airports(hyd,blore,etc), irrigation projects, oil extraction, telecom, banking, SEZ’s etc..even the defence projects are being given away to private companies. There is no money with govt to fun research in many areas, even defence research is underfunded which is the major diff b/w developed contries like US,UK,China and India. This in return makes us not competetive enough to atleast face our neighbours on the defence lines and they start claiming parts of us as theirs.
Apart from this India is not able to fund any major projects like the linking of rivers, Building of high class express ways, also things like maintainiing law and order at the lowest level like in States like bihar, assam, etc.
Given that India has Started its journey just 60 years ago one can give some consideration. but looking at where it is going i think its a serious issue. India is going in direction where Most of the population is poor, the govt is poor to help the poor but some people are rich like the industrialists, politicians.
I here want to make an interesting comparison between the kings, the princely states of the indipendent india and the Super rich of the country. The royal families which existed after independence in India were richer or can be called super rich at that time and were even able to run independent government like sorts in India which did not go well well with indhiragandhi and she took over them, their money, their forts etc.. for the better interest of the nation and its people. I think the super rich now are even richer than those royal families and the govt should some day take similar actions for the better interest of its people. Why some guy need a $2 billion dollar home when the poor are begging and dying of hunger on the streets.
This is my view and comments will be appriciated.
Thanks for reading..
hey man.Awesome..What u said is exactly correct..
Dear Irony,
Isn’t that how capitalism works and isn’t that how natural selection and elimination works. We are complaining now that there is money how about 10years ago when nobody had any money to distribute, and also the people who made money made it out of their intelligence and by no bodys mercy(some cheating involved). Every time they are trying to industrialize the nation may it be orissa or west bengal the so called poor(commies) are blocking those projects and i am sure you know that china doesn’t industrialize based on democratic opinion. The chinese govt just does what they want to do, if we do the same thing here in india then people will cry foul saying its tyrannical.
The less the govt much better the country. The govt’s have been a failure at best for the last 60years. Let the free market work its magic (good or bad) its much better than the older version of socialism where govt did the work. We need more rich people so that they can industrialize the nation in every aspect.
Hi Anon,
I understand your argument. I think, it holds good for the middle class or upper middle class but not for the poor and if you say that the underprivilaged are to be eliminated, i dnt agree on that. I accept that rich have become rich by their intelligence or wat ever but wat i meant to say is no one should be richer or become richer than the govt itself and industrializing a country makes some people rich but it does not make a country a super power. I believe that There is a lot of difference between a country with billioniers and a country which by its technological, agricultural, energy and millitary superiority extends beyond its borders and this can be acheived by govt’s but not by individuals.
Irony,
Interesting comments, but there is one important point missing no body does anything in this world out of the kindness of their hearts its their personal benefits that motivate people to do act/work (straight from adam smiths wealth of nations (normally distributed population works that way)). It would be interesting if you can point out a society that became better because of the govt, as far i have learned all the modern societies were result of individuals drive in that society to become better not the govt and more these kind of individuals much better the society/nation.
I am not suggesting elimination as a mode but betterment as a way and i am sure you know it takes lot of struggle to become better which most people in my country are not ready for or lost appetite for(Its very sad and disappointing that our genes have lost that information in the last few generations and please don’t misunderstand me when i say this). I am not worried about india being a super power, the only thing i want is good roads/schools/water/electricity and these are basic requirements for a healthy country.
Hope to see a good country but it will take time,the only hope is we started walking in that direction.
I remember the dialogue by Rajnikant from Sivaji - “India is not a poor country”. There is a huge disparity in the distribution of wealth among rich and poor. Further there is lot of black money by rich.
Anon,
Again i agree on what you have said. Its the Individuals struggle for betterment makes them what they are. One intresting thing to note here is Food/Water/Electricity/Oil/Energy or anything in General comes from Natural resources and Natural resources are the Wealth of the Nation. When someone is reaping the Resources the generated wealth should belong to the nation that means its people it inturn means that the wealth should be distributed among people.
And whats the governing body that needs to make sure this happens, is the Govt. Now when we see the rich industrialists its clear that the govt is allowing them to reap the benifits at a much lower cost as a result they are becomming rich and richer.
I think the Irony is that the govt is nothing but people.. so if people(govt) do not act this thing continues.
This is so amazing. India now owns the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth place in the Top 10 Billionare list. This clearly shows how well India is developing. If this keeps up, India will probably be as good as USA and Japan. We have our agricultarl advantages, we are developing our nuclear resources, and we have a great cricket team,too. But we’re still missing a couple of things. POliticians need to stop using the money for their own needs and start paying attention to the poor and homeless people. They are doing it now, but only when elections are near, not all during their reign. As soon as they are elected, they just don’t keep the promises they make. The movie “Operation Duryodhana” actually shows this clearly, but politicians still don’t open up their eyes. The only minus point India has are the poor and homeless people and politicians’ stupid and immature thinking. India will only be No.1 in the world if politicians open up their eyes and look at their motherland as they were part of those poor and homeless people. When I say politicians, I don’t mean everyone. There are some politicians who keep their promises and actually try to care for the homeless. There are some politicians, and becuase people only see the bad one instead, the good politicians are tired of doing things that no one would even care to take note of. This is the same for policies. People only take note of the bad ones and don’t tyr to look at waht the good ones have done. The bad people bring a bad name for everyone. PLEASE CHANGE BAD PEOPLE. PLEASE CHANGE POLITICIANS!!!!
Proud to be an Indian…
Why not contribute something to our nation in poorer parts of the country.
You can adopt(Doesn’t mean that child lives with you) a child through World Vision and pay for the education of that child and contribute for clean water supply and much more things.
Google ‘World Vision’ for making a difference in life of a poor Indian child who needs you………
Even though we have to admit that Indians are now powerful on the global stage, it is also the time to feel guilty.
When philanthropists, charity associations and social organisations like UNICEF, World Food Programme from outside of India are coming to serve the poor of our country, our own people are busy building riches on their back.
It is not good to see this kind of disproportion wealth distribution. I can’t see government taking any measures to decrease this dis-proportionality.
Correction!!!,
3 Indians among top 10th world’s richest people and not 4.
Lakshmi Mittal is NOT an Indian. He is definitely of Indian Origin, but he is a British now.
Correction!!,
Lakshmi Mittal is not an Indian. He is definitely of Indian Origin but now he is British.
Anon & Irony,
Well debated by both of you. 1980 China started this mission to remove poverty(80% poverty).Now only 8% are below poverty line in China. We got independence 60 yrs ago is just an excuse. Yes there are kind hearted people in the world,who donate immensely to Charity. The distribution of wealth in China is also 30% rich and 62% above poverty line.But the 62% poor earn between 6,000 to 12,000 Indian Money and they have very good public facilities,transportation etc making life comfortable.Someone said in the forum about corruption.The corruption is rampant in China as well,so that is not the problem.
The problem is The government is the reason for the wellbeing of the people in China but in India the people is responsible for what kind of government we have.We teach our children to become good engineers,doctors,etc but have we in us to say to our children to grow up into a good politician as that is what we are short of.On the whole we are short of Patriotism for our NATION.
India - shud be a super power of different kind.
WHY ?
USA - has 5% of worlds populations -now consumes more than 30% of worlds resources. and causes the more than 30% of pollution.
USA corporation and millionaires and their fortunes are all mostly built by sucking the blood and dead bodies of people from third world:
diamond and mineral rich africa is still poor, war-torn, hungry.
Same goes with the people in other asian,south american nations.
The problem with Capitalist and Capitalism is -
They only wants “ONE THING” i.e “Every Thing”
So this causes tension and conflict- as in Iraq-for oil
seirra lone for diamonds.
This model is not sustainable in indian or Chinese case because if indians and chinese start consuming and exploiting resources this would lead “disaster” and more conflicts and wars.
Reliance and barthi like big corporations are no way good for india
-yes they make few millionares but at cost of greater social divide.
ex: uranium would soon be mined in meghalaya by some corporation. The corporation would earn in millions
few shareholders will be happy too. but the local inhabitants would benefit the least and suffer the most because of the exposure to the radiations.
I just love how people rever beloved Indians in the Top 10 richest peoples list. It is an achievement to appreciate and acknowledge but come on, that feeling is shallow at best. We acknowledge and acclaim such honors on a few yet as a nation we fail to provide enough jobs to younger generations, living conditions have not improved. The nation has probably revelled in amalgamating the life styles of the west but that is no measure to the real nature as a nation.
Advancement has nothing to do with a select few individuals excelling in business and making money. We as a nation have to start progressing with society in mind. Even in this day and age the nation is still under the prongs of casteism, religion and financial status in major metropolitans and rural villages alike. The degree of seperation between urban and rural areas might be different in physicality but the mental intellect has not widened a bit.
Upliftment should be intellectually and emotional so future generations can boast how far we have progressed as opposed to how far we are still behind in this day and age.