Mukesh Ambani to Gautam Adani – how 6 of India’s most crazy rich entrepreneurs made their billions

Jul 22 , 2021

Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal. Photos: SCMP, AFP, @mukesh.ambaniii/Instagram

Mukesh Ambani’s high-rolling family might already be filling your newsfeed, but have you heard of these other outrageously rich Indian tycoons?

There’s tech boss Shiv Nadar and biotech billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla – whose Serum Institute of India has led the global Covid-19 vaccine production

Although India has been hit tragically hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, the rich have somehow still come out on top, with Forbes reporting the total number of billionaires in the country rising from 102 to 140 since last year, based on the 12 months up to April.

Between them, the three crazy richest Indians – Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Shiv Nadar – added a combined US$100 billion to their collective net worth.

So how did they make all that money? From telecoms to vaccines to banking, these businessmen sure know how to rake in the dough. (All net worths are quoted from Forbes’ real-time rankings and are correct at the time of writing.)

Mukesh Ambani: US$79.9 billion

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, arrives to address the company’s annual general meeting in Mumbai in 2018. Photo: Reuters

Mukesh Ambani is not only India’s richest person, he often makes the top 10 list of richest people in the world. His company, Reliance Industries Limited, has interests in petrochemicals, oil, gas, telecoms and retail, while Reliance Jio, the telecoms arm of the company, is one of India’s largest telecoms networks. Reliance was started by Ambani’s role model father, Dhirubhai.

Tina, Anil, Nita and Mukesh Ambani. Photo: @tinaambaniofficial/Instagram

Although there was strife between Mukesh and his brother Anil over control of the company when Dhirubhai died in 2002, Reliance remains a family business with Mukesh’s children Akash, Isha and Anant all involved in the running of the business. Mukesh and Anil have since apparently made peace.

The Ambanis are known for their lavish lifestyle and have become a global obsession in India. Their house, Antilia, is worth an estimated US$1 billion, and is one of the most expensive residential properties in the world. The family are known to host extravagant parties at the house attended by their celeb pals and politician friends.

Gautam Adani: US$55.6 billion

Gautam Adani’s wealth has surged over the past year. Photo: @moneycontrolcom/Twitter

Adani started off as a commodities trader in the late 1980s and now controls seven airports and almost a quarter of India’s air traffic, according to The Economic Times. Today his major source of wealth though is from power generation, renewable energy and transmission (and, if you’re interested, here’s how he spends it).