In the realm of wealth accumulation, Savitri Jindal, India’s wealthiest woman, experienced an unparalleled surge in her fortunes throughout 2023, surpassing even stalwarts like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, according to data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
At 73 years old, Jindal witnessed an astounding increase of $9.6 billion in her net worth during the year.Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL) and India’s wealthiest individual, experienced a comparatively moderate increase of about $5 billion. In contrast, Savitri Jindal emerged as India’s wealthiest woman, surpassing Ambani and Adani.
Although Ambani maintains his position as India’s wealthiest, with a staggering fortune of $92.3 billion, Jindal’s meteoric rise has captured widespread attention, propelling her to the fifth position among India’s richest individuals, with a net worth of $25.3 billion.
Jindal’s conglomerate, the OP Jindal Group, oversees several prominent listed companies, including JSW Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, and JSW Energy. The group, which controls 83 per cent of the port operator JSW Infrastructure, successfully listed the company in October 2023. The Jindal family is now considering the potential listing of JSW Cement in the coming year.
Following closely behind Jindal as one of the top wealth gainers in 2023 is Shiv Nadar, founder of HCL Tech, whose net worth surged by approximately $8 billion, buoyed by the strong performance of HCL Tech shares, which witnessed a 45 per cent rally during the year.
Meanwhile, real estate magnate KP Singh of DLF saw his total wealth increase by another $7 billion, reaching $15.4 billion, driven by an 83 per cent surge in DLF stock amid a real estate boom in India.
Industry stalwarts Kumar Mangalam Birla and Shapoor Mistry also experienced significant wealth gains of $6.3 billion each during 2023. Moreover, Mukesh Ambani’s fortune grew by an extra $5.2 billion, and Dilip Shanghvi, the Managing Director of Sun Pharma, saw his net worth climb by another $4.7 billion.
However, amidst these successes, Gautam Adani emerged as a notable exception. Despite a partial recovery in share prices, Adani faced a net decrease of $35.4 billion in his wealth during 2023, ending the year with an estimated net worth of $85.1 billion.
