India is home to some of the world’s wealthiest business leaders, whose companies span oil and telecoms, ports and power, software, steel, banking, retail, vaccines and pharmaceuticals. The ranking below is based on the Forbes billionaire lists from around 2020, when this article was first written. Fortunes move every day with share prices, so check Forbes’ real-time billionaires list for current figures.
1. Mukesh Ambani
The chairman of Reliance Industries has long been India’s richest person. Much of the family fortune came from the petrochemicals and oil refining businesses built by his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, but Mukesh has steered Reliance towards consumer businesses. Reliance Jio became one of India’s biggest telecom networks, and Reliance Retail is now one of the country’s largest retailers.
2. Gautam Adani
The founder of the Adani Group built his fortune on infrastructure and commodities. The group operates Mundra, India’s largest commercial port, along with power generation, renewable energy such as solar farms, transmission, airports and more. His wealth has swung sharply over the years, briefly making him one of the richest people in the world.
3. Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar co-founded HCL, which grew into HCLTech, one of India’s biggest IT services exporters with a presence in dozens of countries. He is also known for major philanthropy through the Shiv Nadar Foundation.
4. Lakshmi Mittal
Lakshmi Mittal is the executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s largest steelmakers. He became famous for turning around struggling steel plants across the globe, and his group acquired the bankrupt Essar Steel in India.
5. Uday Kotak
Uday Kotak founded Kotak Mahindra Bank, which grew from a small finance company into one of India’s leading private-sector banks.
6. Radhakishan Damani and Family
A veteran stock market investor, Radhakishan Damani founded the supermarket chain DMart. Its parent company, Avenue Supermarts, listed in 2017, and its low-cost, high-efficiency model made it one of India’s most valuable retailers.
7. Savitri Jindal and Family
Savitri Jindal chairs the OP Jindal Group, a steel, power and infrastructure conglomerate, and is regularly ranked as India’s richest woman.
8. Kumar Mangalam Birla
As head of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla leads a fourth-generation business empire with interests in cement, aluminium, retail, telecoms and financial services.
9. Cyrus Poonawalla
Cyrus Poonawalla founded the Serum Institute of India in 1966. It became the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses, producing vaccines for diseases such as measles and polio, and played a major role in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines.
10. Dilip Shanghvi
Dilip Shanghvi founded Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which grew into India’s largest drugmaker and a major global player in speciality generic medicines.
What These Fortunes Have in Common
Most of India’s wealthiest people built or expanded businesses tied to the country’s rapid growth: infrastructure, consumer markets, technology and healthcare. Many started in traditional industries and later moved into newer, faster-growing sectors.
