Wednesday, April 15, 1998
Poor super rich Indians
Dateline: 04/07/98
In 1997, due to the economic breakdown,ÿ bottoms of billionaires fell out everywhere in Asia, except India. $774 billion worth of paper valuation was wiped off slashing the numbers of great Asian money bags, though wily Indian billionaires survived and even proliferated impressively, according to the recent Forbes list of world billionaires.
Ethnic Indian billionaires living in the epicenter of East Asian mess also thrived and how!! Ananda Krishnan, a Malaysian Tamil,ÿ moved up in his country to number 2 position in 1997, from number 7 in 1996, even asÿ the fortune cookies of his counterparts crumbled. With $4,100 million,ÿ he is the richest ethnic Indian on Earth.
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Four Indian billionaires made their debut in Forbes 1997 list -- Godrej, Bajaj,ÿ Mahindra andÿ Tata. None of these were billionaires in 1996, according to Forbes. (There are inconsistencies in the survey and the selection criteria changes often. This year even those worth less than a billion, but are hard hitters made it to the list.)
In 1996, Ratan Tata was poorer than Steven spielberg ($ 1 billion). Ratan has only a tiny equity stake in the $8 billion (sales) TATA group, and controls it through a holding company.ÿ He is the poorest Indian billionaire, and almost tops the World List bottoms up --ÿ number 2 from below. Poor Ratan, 59, is also India's only billionaire bachelor.
The desi super rich in order of their networth:
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Mittal, Lakshmi ($1,900 million/steel)
Birla, Kumar Mangalam ($1,200million/commodities)
Ambani, Dhirubhaiÿ ($1,200million/diversified)
Godrej, Adi and family ($1,200 million/diversified)
Bajaj, Rahul ($700million/scooters)
Mahindra, Keshub ($350million/tractors)
Tata, Ratan ($100million/diversified)
Compared to global colossal money bags, in net asset worth Indian billionaires are small fries. Richest Indian Lakshmi Mittal has exactly about 5% of Brunei Sulatn's wealth. All of the above put together, are worth about 18% of Bill Gates.
Lakshmi Mittal, 47, is the world's twelfth-largest steel maker (annual output: 10 million tons). He built the LNM Group by turning around unprofitable plants inÿ Mexico, Caribbean, Canada and Kazakhstan. With wife, Usha, he owns all of the $6 billion (assets) group.
Birla, 29, youngest Indian billionaire, took over the Aditya Vikram Birla group in 1995 when his father died unexpectedly. Owns about one-third of the 37 companies ($4.2 billion (sales) group. Birlas, number 1 in 1996 ($2.1 billion),ÿ lostÿ their top rank due to a family split and Lakshmi Mittal added 400mÿ more to replace them.
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Dhirubhai Ambani, 65, owns 26% of Reliance Industries,ÿ India's most profitable company, with interests inÿ power, oil refining and telecom.
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Rahul Bajaj, 59, makes over 40% of the 3 million two wheelers sold on the subcontinent each year [$927 million (sales)] .
Mahindra, oldest billionaire at 74,ÿ turned his father's jeep importing business into $1 billion (sales) Mahindra & Mahindra, India's largest tractor manufacturer. .
Godrej, 55 owns at least 49% of 28 Godrej companies . But his biggest asset is 3,000 acres in suburban Bombay worth $850 million.
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In neighbouring Indonesia, the number of billionaires fell from 10ÿ to 7 and in Malaysia from 11 to 7. However, the poorest Indonesian billionaire (Riady family/$1,800 million) remains almost as rich as richest Indian. (Mittal)
In Malaysia, ethnic Indian Ananda Krishnan boosted his net asset worth from $650 millionÿ in 1996 to $4,100 millionÿ in 1997. His wholly owned Usaha Tegas,ÿ with investments in a range from sweepstakes to power generation, is gradually going public, hence the big jump in his net worth estimate since last year. Krishnan owns privately property company KLCC Holdings, which has just built the world's tallest building, Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers. He is 59, lives in Kuala Lumpur,ÿ married. has three more Krishnans to credit. Like most Indians he is a self made man.
How does India compare with England,ÿour former rulers? Very well, indeed! England has just 3 billionaires more than India. One of them is one of us, Swraj Paul ($300 million), and he is almost as rich as the Queen Of England ($350 million). Indian-born Swraj Paul's company, Caparo Group, fixes broken-down metal-working plants and builds new ones.
Outside East Asia,ÿ it was a good year for the billionaires. "With stock markets around the world up an average 23% ....the billionaire population, like the deer population, is sure to have increased," wrote Forbes introducing the survey.
According to Forbes list there are in total 298 billionaires in world and most of them in, no prizes for guessing, in USA(149). And the world's richest man in 1997,ÿ no prizes for guessing,ÿ was Sultan of Brunei ($38,000 million) and not Bill Gates ($36,400 million.)
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