PTI
New York, Sep 5: Six Indians including Ranbaxy promoter family’s Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, Suzlon’s Girish Tanti and Indiabulls’ Sameer Gehlaut have made it to a list of 15 youngest Asian billionaires compiled by business magazine Forbes.
The country’s millionaires jumped 23 per cent last year. The billionaire count soared to 53 from 36 the previous year Forbes said adding that India has maintained its pace in the money race.
India, which boast of a competitive demographic advantage of young population was represented by six people that are under 40 with a cumulative worth of 8.3 billion dollars.
Other Indians on the list include real estate firm Oberoi Constructions, Vikas Oberoi and online gambling entity Partygaming’s founder Anurag Dikshit. China dominated the list with as many as eight representations with a combined wealth of 20 billion dollars.
South Korea and Hong Kong have one each person on the list. Among the Indian representatives Malvinder and Shivinder Singh command a net worth of 2.5 billion dollars. The two brothers control generic drug maker Ranbaxy laboratories founded by their grandfather but sold their holding in the company to Japan’s Daiichi earlier this year.
Despite the sellout Malvinder remains CEO of Ranbaxy while Shivinder runs Indian hospital chain Fortis healthcare which went public in 2007. The brothers also recently listed Financial services arm religare enterprises.
Vikas Oberoi is the second most richest young Indian with a net worth of 1.7 billion dollars. In 1998 he took control of Oberoi constructions property developer started by his father Ranvir.
Morgan Stanley paid usd 152 million last year for stake in Oberoi constructions. Its current projects include a shopping mall and a five-star hotel to be managed by Westin hotels.
Anurag Dikshit with net worth of USD 1.6 billion is the third richest Indian in the list. Dikshit spearheaded the development of technology that helped in the launch of online poker boom. He started partygaming which owns partypoker.Com with a college roommate.
Partypoker stock is off its 2005 high since US lawmakers cracked down on online gaming but Dikshit still has plenty of chips, Forbes said. Girish Tanti, one of the founders of Suzlon energy has a personal wealth of USD 1.3 billion which is world's most valuable wind power company. Girish has a 12 per cent holding in Suzlon looks after international business and human resources. His elder brother Tulsi heads the company.
Sameer Gehlaut with a net worth of 1.2 billion dollars is India's youngest self-made billionaire. Gehlaut started online brokerage Indiabulls in 1999 and still heads the company. Early investors included steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and hedge fund Farallon capital.
The list was topped by Yang Huiyan China with a net worth of USD 7.4 billion. She received a 58 per cent stake in real estate developer country garden from its founder her father, Yeung Kwok Keung. She’s now China’s richest woman.
The other Chinese billionaires are Wong Kwong Yu Huang Guangyu, net worth of USD 3.5 billion, Xiaofeng Peng USD 2.5 Billion, Xian Yang USD 1.6 billion, Robin Yanhong Li USD 1.4 billion, Ma Huateng USD 1.4 billion, Zhang Cheng Fei USD 1.3 billion and William Ding USD 1 billion.
The two single entrant from Hong Kong and South Korea are Chu Lam Yiu USD 1.9 billion and Chung Yong-Jin USD 1 billion respectively.