11 Indians lose billionaire status to demonetisation

Eleven Indians lost their billionaire status this year largely on the back of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation drive, according to Harun's Global Rich List published today.

India, which was ranked at global No. 3 last year with 111 billionaires, slipped to No. 4 in the latest list with 100 billionaires. "India lost 11 billionaires mainly on the back of demonetisation, and Russia lost a further 12 billionaires despite a 30 per cent appreciation of rouble to the dollar," according to report published alongside the Hurun Global Rich List 2017 on Tuesday.

According to the report, in India, pharmaceuticals is the preferred sector, accounting for 20 billionaires, followed by manufacturing and TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) each with 10.
Combined wealth of the Indian billionaires declined by 1 per cent to $304 billion. Average age of an Indian billionaire is 64. Mumbai is home to most of the Indian billionaires followed by New Delhi. Mukesh Ambani ($26bn, rank 21) is the richest Indian. The report also says 32 migrated from India, of which UAE, UK and USA were the preferred destinations.
The top 3 billionaires are all Americans - the 61-year-old Bill Gates of Microsoft was once again crowned the richest man on earth, with $81 billion in wealth, followed by Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet ($78b) and Amazon's Jeff Bezos ($72b).

"The world today has 5,000 dollar billionaires, assuming that for every one we have found we have missed at least one. While some billionaires go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their wealth, for the most part it is that they are discreet and prefer operating under the radar," said Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun Report.

Where billionaires stay