India’s Billionaire Count Reaches New Milestone: Hurun India Rich List 2024

India’s economic landscape is hitting new highs as the country adds a billionaire every five days, surpassing 300 US dollar billionaires for the first time. The 2024 Hurun India Rich List reveals an impressive total of 334 billionaires, a significant increase of 75 from the previous year.

Anas Rahman Junaid, the Founder, and Chief Researcher of Hurun India, expressed, “India continues to lead the ‘Wealth Creation Olympics’. The 2024 Hurun India Rich List showcases the prolific growth with a triple-century mark in the billionaire count, as all top 20 sectors welcome new entrants. This exemplifies the relentless drive of Indian entrepreneurs propelling growth across various industries.”

The report also highlights India’s growing dominance as Asia’s wealth-creating hub. While China witnessed a 25% decline in billionaires, India experienced a remarkable 29% increase, reaching an unprecedented 334 billionaires.

According to an ET report, the Hurun India Rich List now features 1,539 individuals from diverse backgrounds such as family-run businesses, startup founders, private equity investors, angel investors, next-generation leaders, and even film stars.

Wealth creation in India is geographically shifting and expanding. In the past decade, the number of Indian cities represented in the list has risen from 10 to 97, showcasing a broader distribution of wealth nationwide.

The report reveals that there are 1,539 individuals in India with a net worth exceeding Rs 1,000 crore. When the threshold is raised to Rs 5,000 crore, the list narrows down to 534 High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs).

Junaid estimates that for every individual listed, there might be two more individuals with a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore or more, suggesting that India could potentially have around 5,000 such individuals.

The cumulative wealth of India’s richest individuals has surged by 46%, with an average wealth growth of 25%. The report notes, “1,334 individuals witnessed wealth increments or remained stable, with 272 new faces, while 205 observed wealth decline, and 45 dropped out. With 334 billionaires, an increase of 75 from last year, the Real Estate and Industrial Products sectors welcomed significant new entrants, with Industrial Products retaining the top spot contributing 142 newcomers to the list.”

The list’s youngest member, Kaivalya Vohra, co-founder of Zepto, a quick commerce delivery firm, holds an estimated wealth of Rs 3,600 crore. The youngest billionaires, Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, both 33 years old, are the founders of the payment solutions app Razorpay.

Notable billionaires in India include the Adani family with a net worth of Rs 11.6 lakh crore, followed by the Ambanis at Rs 10.14 lakh crore. Other prominent figures include Shiv Nadar of HCL, ‘vaccine king’ Cyrus S Poonawalla, Dilip Sanghvi, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Hindujas, Radhakishan Damani, Azim Premji, and Niraj Bajaj.