The Top 10 Richest Indians in 2013
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No turnaround yet for troubled steel baron Lakshmi Mittal whose ArcelorMittal is facing weak demand amid supply glut. After reporting a $3.7 billion net loss in 2012, the world’s largest steelmaker raised $4 billion in January share sale in bid to reduce debt, which now stands at $16.2 billion. But it has racked up $1.1 billion in net losses over the last 2 quarters as sales continued to be weak. Frustrated by delays in acquiring land and iron ore supplies, he finally scrapped a steel project in eastern India. Mittal put one of 3 houses he owns on London’s billionaires’ row up for sale. Meanwhile, his son-in-law Amit Bhatia's family has partnered Air Asia's Tony Fernandes and the Tata group, for a new budget airline.
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Dilip Shanghvi, who runs India’s most valuable drug company, Sun Pharmaceuticals, maker of generic versions of such drugs as Johnson & Johnson’s cancer drug Doxil and Novo Nordisk’s anti diabetic drug Prandin, is India’s biggest dollar gainer this year, up $4.7 billion. Shanghvi, who moved into the top five last year, is the third richest for the first time. Despite the rise, Sun reported a $210 million loss in the last quarter, after making a provision for settling a patent dispute over Pfizer’s acid-reflux drug Protonix. In July, he took over as chairman of Israeli generics firm Taro Pharmaceuticals, a Sun subsidiary, after withdrawing a plan to take it private. Shanghvi started Sun as a maker of psychiatric drugs 30 years ago and grew it in part through acquisitions. His son Aalok who heads international marketing at Sun, cofounded PV Powertech, a maker of solar panels.
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Wipro chairman Azim Premji, whose fortune is up $1.6 billion in past year, got boost after spinning off its consumer products business in March. India’s richest tech tycoon, he foresees double-digit growth for the outsourcer as the U.S. economy recovers. He blames the government for India’s economic slide but supported a proposal to increase taxes on the rich. Asia’s most generous person, who’s given away shares worth $4.4 billion, Premji recently said the new rule that companies should donate 2% of profits to charity wasn’t a good idea: “philanthropy should be spontaneous not forced.”
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Pallonji Mistry, patriarch of construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji, which his older son Shapoor runs, benefited from the rising value of his 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, the holding outfit of $100 billion Tata conglomerate. Younger son Cyrus replaced business legend Ratan Tata as chairman in December 2012 and has since installed a team of younger executives in top management. Benefiting from the weaker rupee and new contracts, its Tata Consultancy Services is now the world’s second most valuable IT services firm after IBM, with a market cap of $68 billion. Mistry is an Irish citizen but lives in Mumbai. His grandson Pallon now works at SP Group.
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Four brothers, Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok, together control the Hinduja Group, a multinational conglomerate with a presence in 37 countries and businesses as diverse as trucks and lubricants to banking and healthcare. In India, they are best known for IndusInd Bank and truckmaker Ashok Leyland. Lubricants arm Gulf Oil, which bought U.S.-based Houghton International for just over $1 billion last year, is preparing to list the combined unit. They recently sold a 49% stake in Saudi-based lubricants maker Petromin for over $300 million. Brothers bought and restored the 67,000 sq. foot Carlton House Terrace, a heritage mansion in London, which sits on the site of a former palace near Buckingham Palace; now valued at an estimated $500 million.
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Fortune up $3 billion for Shiv Nadar, cofounder of $6.3 billion (revenues) HCL Group, as shares of his software flagship HCL Technologies rose 80% from a year ago, helped in part by weak rupee, higher earnings and new clients. Among its notable customers are Boeing, Microsoft, Cisco and UBS. Nadar, who has not been involved in running the operations of the company for several years preferring instead to focus on strategy for the group and philanthropy, moves into top 10 for first time since 2004. Daughter Roshni,who is CEO of holding outfit HCL Corporation, was appointed to HCL Tech’s board in July as a nonexecutive director.
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Adi Godrej is head of family that controls 116-year-old Godrej Group, a $3.8 billion (revenues) consumer goods conglomerate. Its portfolio covers everything from mosquito repellants and hair dyes to refrigerators. Godrej often says listed real estate arm Godrej Properties, run by son Pirojsha, could be group’s biggest business in a decade. Meantime, its Godrej Consumer is eyeing acquisitions in Africa, where it employs 10,000 people. In December Singapore’s Temasek invested $100 million for a 20% stake in its agribusiness arm. Four relatives share fortune.
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Undeterred by India’s slowing economy, Kumar Birla’s $40 billion (sales) commodities conglomerate Aditya Birla Group is continuing to expand at home. In September, its cement arm UltraTech inked a $600 million deal to buy a rival unit; the combined group is now country’s largest cement producer. In October he was named by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a corruption scandal linked to the allocation of coal mines to his aluminum maker Hindalco in 2005. He denied the allegation, calling the charge “preposterous.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh backed Birla, saying he had approved the allocation.
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After a long downward spell, shares of Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel which has 275 million customers worldwide, perked up when it reported higher revenues per user in last quarter. In June it sold a 5% stake for $1.2 billion to the investment arm of the state-owned Qatar Foundation. Company faced hitch when federal auditor recommended that Bharti along with other firms be fined for allegedly using 3G spectrum that they didn’t own. In April, Mittal appeared in court in another case involving granting of additional telecom spectrum. Both cases are ongoing. Mittal was also was in the news for breaking off with Wal-Mart, his partner in a six-year old joint venture that was troubled by allegations of wrongdoing. The U.S. retailer will acquire his stake in the wholesale business while he will continue to own a separate chain of grocery stores, run by brother Rajan.
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