Ambani and Adani account for a fifth of the net worth of all billionaire promoters in the country and half the combined net worth of the top 10.
The club of billionaire promoters in India expanded to a record high of 201 members at the end of 2024, up sharply from 157 at the close of the equivalent period the previous year and 126 when 2022 ended.
Their combined wealth went past $1 trillion for the first time and reached an all-time high of $1,023.9 billion at the end of December.
By comparison, the combined market cap of all BSE-listed companies was up 18.9 per cent in December 2024 at $5,200 billion from $4,374 billion at the end of December 2023.
The BSE Sensex has been a laggard and up just 6 per cent in dollar terms at the end of last year.
Billionaire promoters' wealth, based on the market value of their family stakes in listed companies, was up by 21.1 per cent last year from $845.5 billion (around Rs 70.41 trillion) at the end of December 2023 and $739 billion at the close of December 2022.
A double-digit expansion in the billionaire club and their family wealth in 2024 has been attributed to a strong rally in midcap and smallcap stocks last year and a boom in initial public offerings (IPOs).
As a result, 47 promoters joined the club. Of them 10 entered the league table thanks to successful IPOs and listing of their companies.
These new entrants had combined wealth of $74.8 billion at the end of December 2024, up 182.6 per cent from $26.5 billion at the end of December 2023.
It is to be seen how many of the new entrants remain in the club, given a steady decline in stock prices and depreciation in the rupee.
The combined market cap of BSE companies is down 5.6 per cent month-to-date in January so far while the rupee is down 1.21 per cent during the period.
The share price decline is much sharper in the midcap and smallcap space, which created most of the new billionaires in CY24.
The analysis is based on listed companies' market cap as on December 31, 2024, and the value of the promoters' stake based on shareholding pattern of companies at the end of the September 2024 quarter.
The previous-year data was based on the companies' market cap and promoters' stake at the end of the December 2023 quarter.
Net-worth calculation excludes the value of the stakes of listed group companies in other listed group companies.
The monthly average dollar-rupee exchange rates for December 2023 and December 2024 have been considered.
Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries remains India's richest promoter with net worth of Rs 8.97 trillion, or $105.6 billion, at the end of December 2024, followed by Gautam Adani (head of the Adani group) at number two spot with family net worth of $100.7 billion.
Both Ambani and Adani stayed at the top despite a decline in their net worth last year.
Ambani's family net worth was down 5.3 per cent while that of Adani was down 4.8 per cent in dollar terms last calendar year.
They are likely to remain at the top in the foreseeable future, given the huge gap between them and the other promoters.
Ambani and Adani account for a fifth of the net worth of all billionaire promoters in the country and half the combined net worth of the top 10.
Shiv Nadar of HCL Tech is ranked third. His family net worth is $37.3 billion. Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma ($29.5 billion) follows and then comes Wipro's Azim Premji at fifth spot with $27.1 billion.
Other top promoters in the top 10 include Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel ($25.2 billion), JSW group's Sajjan Jindal ($24.9 billion), Avenue Supermart's Radhakishan Damani ($20.4 billion), and the Bajaj group's Rajiv and Sanjeev Bajaj ($19.2 billion).
There is only one change in the top 10 list in CY24. Real estate mogul K P Singh of DLF replaced Asian Paints promoters (Malav Dani, Amrita Vakil, and Manish Choksi).
Singh is now the 10th richest promoter in the country with a family net worth of $17.8 billion at the end of December 2024.
Shanghvi was the biggest gainer among the top promoters with a 43.8 per cent rise in his family net worth in dollar terms.
The promoters of midcap and smallcap companies were, however, the biggest gainer in CY24, led by Jitendra Mamtora of TRIL (formerly Transformers & Rectifiers India Ltd), whose family net worth nearly quadrupled in CY24 to $1.3 billion from $0.28 billion a year ago.
Other big gainers include Shapoor Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji Group (up 322 per cent), Anurag Gupta of PG Electroplast (up 306 per cent), Habil Khorakiwala of Wockhardt (up 229.4 per cent) and Motilal Oswal and Ramdeo Agarwal of Motilal Oswal Financial Services (up 201.5 per cent).
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
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