For India’s Mukesh Ambani, dethroned as Asia’s wealthiest man by China’s Zhong Shanshan, even humble pie tastes rich

Spare a thought for the Reliance Industries magnate – the loss of his title to the Chinese billionaire is seen by some Indians as a national shame

Still, he has reasons to be cheerful, among them: US$77 billion, a 27 storey home, a deal with Facebook, a vision to be India’s Alibaba and a new grandson

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India’s wealthiest man, but not Asia’s (any longer): Mukesh Ambani. Photo: Instagram

Published: 1:30pm, 5 Jan 2021Updated: 11:24pm, 5 Jan 2021

“Move over Mukesh Ambani, China’s Zhong Shanshan is now the richest Asian with a net worth of US$77.8 billion,” tweeted an Indian business daily.

“Zhong Shanshan dethrones Ambani as Asia’s richest,” went another. Meanwhile a cheeky Indian tweeter rued that Ambani, who had kept India’s flag flying high with his wealth, was “now eating humble pie in front of our arch-rival – China!” even as another entreated Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “sell the entire country” to Ambani just so he could “take his spot back” as it was “a matter of national shame”.

News that India’s wealthiest man – Ambani, chairman of the US$200 billion conglomerate Reliance Industries – had been pipped by the Chinese billionaire as Asia’s richest person on the coveted Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has created a flutter in the South Asian country of 1.3 billion.

Many took personal affront that the new winner was from China, a country India has been locked in a deadly confrontation with over their disputed Himalayan border.

“Had it been a Singaporean or Vietnamese or an industrialist from any other Asian nation, we would have been OK. But China?! It is currently enemy number one on the national list,” says Delhi-based tech entrepreneur Shashank Mehta, who switched off his television the moment he heard the news.

China’s Zhong Shanshan has experienced one of the fastest rises up the wealth ladder in history. Photo: Weibo

Zhong, 66, who helms the bottled water company Nongfu Spring and the vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, rose to numero uno on the billionaire’s list as his wealth surged US$70.9 billion this year to US$77.8 billion. This made him the 11th richest person on the planet, one of the fastest rises up the wealth ladder in history.

Ambani, 63, who had previously held fourth spot on the index, has now tumbled to 12th, his net worth having plunged from nearly US$90 billion earlier this year to US$76.9 billion after the value of his shares was roiled by an adverse business climate in a tumultuous year.

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