The Ambani Brothers Fortunes Take A Pounding
Anybody who held a significant part of their wealth in Indian equities has had a bad year this year. To be fair anybody who has had a significant proportion of their wealth in any equities has not had a terribly encouraging year and a lot of wealth has been shed.
The coterie of India’s super rich has certainly not been spared. As the Sensex has shed over half its value this year, India’s wealthiest 40 have seen their net worth decline by a whopping aggregate of US$ 212 billion or Rs 1,060,000 crore according to Forbes Magazine. The Forbes list of India’s richest 40 tycoons is replete with sobering statistics: while all of those listed last year were billionaires, only 27 now have ten-figure fortunes.
The drop represents a 60 per cent decline in their collective net worth to US$ 139 billion or Rs 695,000 crore. Anil Ambani turns out to have had the biggest losses from the global downturn. India’s third richest man after brother Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal and who are ranked first and second respectively.
Anil Ambani’s fortune once valued at US$ 45 billion or Rs 225,000 crore is now a measly US$ 12.5 billion or Rs 62,500 crore according to Forbes, representing a loss of US$ 90 million or Rs 450 crore a day. There has been a shift at the top of the wealth rankings of India’s elite. Mukesh Ambani took over top spot with an estimated US$ 20.8 billion or Rs 104,000 crore to his name having lost a whopping US$ 28 billion or Rs 140,000 crore in the same time frame. Not to be outdone, India’s former richest man, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, saw a drop of US$ 30 billion or Rs 150,000 crore in his fortune as the price of steel collapsed.
Adding insult to injury for both the Ambani brothers there has been a further 25 per cent decline in the value of the Rupee against the US dollar this year. Mr. Mittal, whose company operates outside of India has been spared the brunt of this, but as stated earlier has his fortunes tied closely to the price of commodities, steel in particular, which have seen large sell offs, mirroring the performance of the equity markets.
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