Ambani pips Adani to become the richest Indian, again

Mumbai | Despite a 6 per cent dent in fortune, Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani has reclaimed his title as the richest Indian in 2025, overthrowing rival Gautam Adani, as per a list of wealthiest in the country published on Wednesday.

The 68-year-old Ambani's fortune declined 6 per cent to Rs 9.55 lakh crore, and was far ahead of Adani's Rs 8.14 lakh crore, as per the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025.

Adani, who had witnessed a 95 per cent jump in fortunes to Rs 11.6 lakh crore as his group's shares recouped the losses caused by shortseller Hindenburg, had displaced Ambani last year to be the richest Indian.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra of HCL broke into the top-three for the first time with a fortune of Rs 2.84 lakh crore, which gave her the number three spot.

Cyrus Poonawalla and family maintained their fourth position with wealth estimated at Rs 2.46 lakh crore, while Kumar Mangalam Birla was fifth at Rs 2.32 lakh crore.

Birla's fortune suffered a 1 per cent dent -- the least among the top-5 wealthy individuals.

The cumulative wealth of those in the list is pegged at Rs 167 lakh crore, equivalent to nearly half of India's GDP.

The list has 1,687 individuals with wealth of Rs 1,000 crore, which was up by 284 while there are 148 new entrants.

Hurun said India has created a billionaire every week for the past two years now, with those in the list adding Rs 1,991 crore in wealth every day.

Chennai-born Aravind Srinivas (31), founder of Perplexity, made his debut as a billionaire on the list with a wealth of Rs 21,190 crore and is also the youngest among 350 billionaires on the list.

Niraj Bajaj and family saw their wealth jump 43 per cent to Rs 2.33 lakh crore, climbing four spots to be the sixth richest Indian.