India has beaten Russia in creating billionaires. As per a recent study conducted by Hurun, which tracks the richest persons of the world, India is now placed at #3 rank in the list of nations with most billionaires, only behind USA and China. Compared to last year, 27 more Indians have been newly crowned as billionaires, taking the total count to 97.
Globally, 222 new billionaires were created in the last 12 months, making the total number of billionaires to 2089; but their total combined wealth dropped by 1.5% to $6.7 trillion.
Russia’s weak economic outlook and global sanctions after their Ukraine aggression has resulted in wealth draining away from the country. Total of 10 billionaires found their ranking erased from the latest ranking, and of the remaining billionaires, 60% of their wealth was lost. Billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov was the biggest loser, as he saw 77% of his wealth reduced as Russian Govt. put him under house arrest, and seized his Oil firm.
Russia’s loss was India’s biggest gain, as it replaced Russia to claim #3 rank in the overall list.
India’s stock market also performed exceptionally well, as India’s wealthiest persons saw their stock investment swell to 48% in the last 12 months.
Like last year, Mukesh Ambani is India’s wealthiest person with assets worth $20 billion and is ranked 41 in the world’s richest list. The report also mentions low oil price and major policy reforms announced by the new Government as one of the factors which resulted in more billionaires compared to last year.
In terms of Cities, With New York is the billionaire capital of the world with 91 billionaires residing in the city, followed by Moscow and Hong Kong. Here are the cities with most billionaires residing.
Some interesting facts from this study:
- USA with 537 and China with 430 billionaires have 50% of global billionaires
- 17 billionaires saw their wealth double in 2014, out of which 14 are from China
- Globally, technology produced the maximum billionaires: 297, which is 11% of the overall list.
- 5 tech companies which can create several more billionaires in 2015, as their IPO is expected: Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, Xiaomi and Dropbox
- Manufacturing sector in India produced maximum billionaires: 23; followed by Pharma: 14 and Technology, Media, Telecom (TMT) sector with 12 billionaires
- 97 Indian billionaires have combined wealth of $266 billion
- Average age of global billionaires is 58 years, with 40 billionaires under age of 40 which includes Snapchat founders Evan Spiegel, 23, and Bobby Murphy, 25.
- 25% of all billionaires are women
- Probably the most interesting billionaire story is of Nicholas Woodman, an amateur photographer who founded GoPro in USA. The company went public last year, netting $1.1 billion for Nicholas.
You can read the full report here.
Related: Here is a list of top 10 billionaires who used technology to create their fortune. And an interesting insight into India’s wealthiest persons. Last year, we had reported on a study according to which India would be the fastest wealth creating nation by 2018; and the recent Hurun report confirms it.
Lastly, the gap between rich and poor should also be mentioned in this news of super-rich. We have reported that the richest 1% will command more wealth than the remaining 99% by 2016; a scenario which is scary and insane.
[…] from India, 2% or 4000 left India and settled in another country. Last year, we had reported how India has beaten the massive Russia is creating billionaires and is now ranked after China and US in creating wealth. But with such […]