PARTYGAMING'S DIXIT PLUMMETS DOWN FORBES LIST OF RICHEST INDIANS

MONEYCONTROL (www.moneycontrol.com)
2006-11-18 11:29

The Forbes list of richest Indians is out and India’s top 10 have seen their net worth skyrocket almost 60 % in a year reports CNBC-TV18.

The top 10 Indian billionaires have added USD 64 billion to their net worth in a year.

Lakshmi Mittal, who is also the world’s third richest man, has been crowned the richest Indian once again this year. Mittal went on a fierce and controversial acquistion spree, but added USD 5 billion to his net worth of approximately USD 25 billion dollars.

Claiming the next two spots are the Ambani brothers, with Mukesh Ambani ranking second and Anil Ambani at the third position. Both have climbed up one spot from last year. Azim ‘Wipro’ Premji is now at number 4 on the billionaire ladder, down two positions from last year.

Interestingly, the list of the new barons on the block has seen five new faces this year. At number nine stands the surprise entry of Ramesh Chandra who cashed in on middle-class housing to garner a net worth of USD 5.3 billion dollars. The four other money magnates include Sun TV’s Kalanithi Maran, tractor tycoon Keshub Mahindra, India’s largest commodity exchange founder Jignesh Shah, and Infosys co-founder K Dinesh.

The list saw many upheavels, causing seven dropouts this year. One was Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw – Biocon shares fell by 26 % in the past year. But the biggest loser was Anurag Dixit, at number 29, who had set up the world’s largest online poker company, Partygaming. Shares in his firm tanked this year on regulatory issues concerning online gaming.

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