Bengaluru's uber rich worth Rs 3.46 lakh crore

India's tech hub Bengaluru accounts for an estimated 8.4% of the country's rich people with a net worth of at least Rs 1,000 crore or more, a study shows.

According to the "Barclay's Hurun India Rich List for 2018", released on Tuesday, as many as 70 individuals having a net worth in excess of Rs 1,000 crore are from Bengaluru. These individuals possess a collective wealth of Rs 3.46 lakh crore. The tech hub of India has added 19 people to the country's ultra-rich list in 2018.

Wipro chairman Azim Hashim Premji tops the list of wealthy Bengalureans with a net worth of Rs 96,100 crore. He is also the fourth richest in the country. Premji is followed by Jitu Virwani of Embassy Group with a net worth of Rs 23,200 crore. Biocon's founder and chairperson and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw stands at the third place with a net worth of Rs 22,700 crore. She tops the rich list for women in the country.

Ranjan Pai of Manipal Education and Nithin Kamath of Zerodha, a financial services firm, occupy the fourth and fifth slots respectively.

The country's rich list includes 16 members of families of the founders of Infosys including N R Narayana Murthy, his son Rohan Murty, and Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani among others.

Other prominent rich persons from Bengaluru are Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal, co-founders of Flipkart, P N C Menon of PNC Investments, Dhiraj Rajaram of Mu Sigma, Sudha Gopalakrishnan, wife of Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and Sundar Genomal of Page Industries.

According to the list, Mumbai registered an increase of 51 individuals in the rich list, Delhi added 46 while third-placed Bengaluru added 19 people to the Rs 1,000 crore or more club. With 233 individuals or 28% of the total list, Mumbai occupies the top position when it comes to India’s top entrepreneurs, followed by New Delhi (163) and Bengaluru (70).

The country has a record-breaking 831 individuals having a minimum wealth of Rs 1,000 crore. The number of individuals in the list has grown by a 100% since Hurun India Rich List 2016.

The wealth of India's top 100 richest people has jumped by Rs 3.08 lakh crore in 2018 to Rs 30.59 lakh crore, from Rs 27.51 lakh crore in 2017, a jump of 10.1%.

Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped the list for the seventh consecutive year, with an estimated wealth of Rs 371,000 crore. Backed by a jump of 47% in the share price of his flagship company, Reliance Industries, Ambani saw his net worth jump by 44% over the last year. According to last year's Hurun India Rich List, Ambani's net worth was pegged at Rs 2.58 lakh crore.

His wealth is more than the combined wealth of the next three in the list — SP Hinduja and family (Rs 1.59 lakh crore), LN Mittal (Rs 1.15 lakh crore) and family, and Bengaluru-based business tycoon Premji (Rs 96,100 crore). Ambani’s wealth increased by Rs 300 crore every day over the past year, according to the report.

Among the top gainers in the list, Krishna Kumar Bangur of Graphite India saw his net worth jump 430% to Rs 14,300 crore this year, while startup entrepreneur Byju Raveendran of Think & Learn saw his net worth jumping by 230% to Rs 3,300 crore.

With 114 individuals on the list, the pharmaceuticals industry leads the list followed by software and services with 66 individuals and FMCG with 53 individuals.

"Amid the huge political debate around India’s current economic scenario, Barclays Hurun India Rich List 2018 depicts that Indian businesses are booming. In fact, the number of Rs 1,000 crore+ wealthy Indians have nearly doubled in the past two years — from 339 in 2016 edition to 831 presently," Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and chief researcher, Hurun Report India said.