While China has 814 billionaires compared to India’s 271, Mumbai hosts 92 billionaires against 91 in Beijing, Hurun Research‘s 2024 Global Rich List showed.Mumbai now ranks third globally in terms of billionaires after New York, which regained its top status after seven years with 119 billionaires, followed by London with 97.
The Maximum City has managed to overtake China’s political and cultural capital because of the 26 new billionaires it has added in a year. Beijing, in the same time, has seen a 18 erstwhile billionaires drop out of the list on a net basis.
Mumbai’s total billionaire wealth stands at $445 billion, with a 47% increase from the previous year, while Beijing’s total billionaire wealth amounts to $265 billion, a 28% decrease.
Mumbai’s wealth sectors include energy and pharmaceuticals, with billionaires like Mukesh Ambani experiencing significant gains. Real estate player Mangal Prabhat Lodha (and family) was Mumbai’s biggest wealth gainer in percentage terms (116%).
In the global rich list, Indian billionaires have seen a slight drop in world ranking; Mukesh Ambani maintains his stronghold at 10th position with a substantial increase in wealth. Gautam Adani’s remarkable surge in wealth propelled him up eight positions globally to the 15th rank.
HCL’s Shiv Nadar and his family witnessed a notable ascent in both wealth and global ranking (up 16 places to 34). Conversely, Serum Institute’s Cyrus S Poonawalla experienced a modest dip (down 9 places to 55) with total wealth of $82 billion. Further contributing to India’s billionaire cohort’s dynamics are Sun Pharmaceuticals Dilip Shanghvi (61st position) and Kumar Mangalam Birla (100). Radhakishan Damani’s modest yet steady wealth growth, fuelled by DMart’s success, has seen him move up eight places to 100.