New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS): Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani added $16.5 billion to his wealth in 2019 taking his total net worth to $60.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

With around $61 billion of net worth as of Tuesday, the petroleum-to-telecom tycoon is the 12th richest person in the world.

The recent consistent rise in RIL's shares prices is a major reason in the past one year. Data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows that said that RIL's share price rose by over 41 per cent in the past one year.

On Tuesday, its shares closed at Rs 1,544.50, lower by Rs 26.90 or 1.71 per cent from its previous close.

In the past few years, the company has significantly diversified its business with its disruptive entry into the telecom segment with Jio, then into the broadband services with Jio GigaFiber. The group has also strengthened it's retail presence and would soon enter the e-commerce segment giving a tough competition to the incumbents Amazon and Flipkart.

The list of the world's richest individuals is topped by Bill Gates with a net worth of $113 billion, aided by an addition of $22.4 billion this year.

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma's (19th richest) net worth rose by $11.3 billion while Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the second richest individual in the world, lost $13.2 billion.