Nirav Modi off The World’s Billionaires 2018 by Forbes, Mukesh Ambani leads India

Nirav Modi has been dropped off the The World’s Billionaires 2018 Rankings by Forbes. Mukesh Ambani leads 121 Indian billionaires and  Vijay Shekhar Sharma stands as the youngest billionaire from India that made to the list of The World’s Billionaires, Forbes.

In this year, China lost the most with the 49 ten-figure fortunes, while 15 Americans, including a Trump cabinet member, has fallen out of the three-comma club. Further, all 10 Saudi Arabians has also fallen from the list, led by a lack of clarity about what they currently own after a government-led crackdown. There are no Billionaires from Pakistan.

Americans hold four out of the top five spots, which include Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg. President Donald Trump didn’t perform well financially during his first year in office. As per Forbes, President Donald Trump’s assets are down by an approximate $US400 million to $US3.1 billion.

Meanwhile, Forbes has found new billionaires in 35 countries around the globe. Amongst which, China has added the most with 89 newcomers, followed by the U.S. (with 45), India (18) and Germany (13).

Indians Among The World’s Billionaires 2018 by Forbes

Nirav Modi, diamond jewelry billionaire, has been dropped off the Forbes billionaire list this year as his net worth fell from around $1.7 billion in 2017 to $100 million in 2018. He is reportedly accused that he has conducted fraudulent transactions with Indian Banks, that resulted in a reported $1.8 billion flowing into Modi’s jewelry companies.

While Mukesh Ambani got richer by $16.9 billion in 2018 with assets of $40.1 billion, as per Forbes. He has moved up to the 19th global rank on the list of 2,208 billionaires worldwide compiled by Forbes. In 2017, he ranked 33rd with $23.2 billion. He is followed by Azim Premji ranked in the second place, Hinduja family, Lakshmi Mittal, Pallonji Mistry, Godrej family, Shiv Nadar etc.

On the other hand, as per the Hurun Global Rich List 2018, four Indians have made it to the top 100 billionaires worldwide. This includes Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries at USD 45 billion. He is followed by Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma at USD 15 billion, Gautam Adani of Adani Enterprises at USD 15 billion and Shiv Nadar of HCL technologies at USD 14 billion. Moreover, India has replaced Germany, where it currently stands at fifth place with 114 billionaires. The list of Indian billionaires does not include billionaires of Indian origin, otherwise the list would increase the number to 170.

Entry of 18 new billionaires from India in the Forbes list is good as well as bad sign from income inequality perspective. Being optimistic, Indians shall be happy that they have third highest number of entrants to the list this year.