Page 36 - 31OCT2019E

Rich get richer as hunger

increases in the country

While there is an increase in the number of richest Indians in the latest Forbes list, India ranks
among those 45 countries that are experiencing serious levels of hunger, tehelka bureau finds out

eliance Industries Chair- markable largesse of tech tycoon Azim chairman of the Adani group with an
man Mukesh Ambani Premji, who gave away a chunk of his increase in his net worth by $15.7 bil-
bagged the first place on fortune in March and consequently lion. He rises from the eighth spot to
Forbes India Rich List 2019 dropped in the ranks to No. 17 from No. second after a nine-year wait. Adani se-
R for the 12th consecutive 2,” Forbes added. cured permission in June to start work
year with Net Worth of $51.4 billion, The second spot on the list, how- on an Australian coal mine. He has also
while Adani Group Chairman Gau- ever, is bagged by Gautam Adani the ventured into a slew of new businesses
tam Adani figured on the second spot. from airports to data centers.
Ironically, India’s ranking on the Global In the list after the top ranks are
Hunger Index (GHI) has dropped from Ashok Leyland owners Hinduja broth-
55 (2014) to 103 (2018) over the past five ers, Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Pallonji
years. Mistry, Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Uday
Ambani added $4.1 billion to his net Kotak, and HCL Technologies’ Shiv
worth as Jio, the three-year-old telecom Nadar. A $4 billion boost had propelled
unit of his Reliance Industries, became Uday Kotak into the top five for the first
one of India’s biggest mobile carriers time.
with 340 million subscribers, according Six newcomers have made their
to the Forbes magazine. debut including Byju Raveendran
A “challenging year for the nation’s (no. 72, $1.91 billion), Manohar Lal and
wealthies” because of the economic Madhusudan Agarwal (No. 86, $1.7
slowdown, spelt an 8 per cent fall in the billion) of Delhi-headquartered
total wealth of the tycoons on the 2019 Haldiram Snacks and Rajesh Mehra
list, amounting to $452 billion. (no. 95, $1.5 billion) of Jaquar. Mean-
“In all, 14 were poorer by $1 billion while, Autoparts maker Vivek Chaand
or more, and nine members from last Sehgal’s net worth more than halved
year’s ranks dropped off. More than a to $2.45 billion given the drastic slow-
third of that decline was due to the re- • The richest Mukesh Ambani down in the automobile industry.

• Unprecedented growth Gautam Adani • Wealthy brothers Gopichand Hinduja • Tech money minter Shiv Nadar

tehelka / 31 october 2019 36 www.tehelka.com