Mark Cuban said, “Being rich is a good thing. Not just in the obvious sense of benefitting you and your family, but in the broader sense. Profits are not a zero sum game. The more you make, the more of a financial impact you can have.”
BW Businessworld’s Super Rich issue chronicles and celebrates the wealthiest individuals and families in India. We profile, analyse and assess the repositories of wealth in the country and rank them in terms of their net worth. Personal wealth is not just about being rich. Wealth exhibits an individual’s capacity to initiate and implement social change, when money is put to good use.
The detailed analysis of the Super Rich, pointing to the situations responsible for their gain or loss of wealth in 2016, is the outcome of research undertaken for BW Businessworld by IIFL Wealth and Asset Management and ACE Equity. We also look beyond the wealth of individuals, to scrutinise the wealthiest families in India. BW Businessworld’s Mumbai bureau head Clifford Alvares anchored the Super Rich issue, while a team of in-house writers scoured for wealth among the young, among women and different sectors of the economy.
Wealth has long ceased to be confined to a rigid status quo. Over the last few decades, the rank and file of the rich have been disrupted often by trail blazers. So, we welcome the disruptors of the year, who have broken ranks to stand shoulder to shoulder with old or inherited wealth. We peer into their books in quest of their mantras for success, but most of all, we celebrate their achievement.
It has been a month since the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes ceased to be legal tender. And, even if not to a substantial extent, the demonetisation of 86 per cent of the currency in circulation, did have an effect on major Indian banks, not to speak of the ubiquitous ‘common man’. As BW has emphasised in the past, we believe that the long-term impact of the demonetisation exercise would be positive for the Indian economy. In this issue, we continue the debate.
Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha and Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra predict an increase in national savings because of the demonetisation exercise. Chandra feels the move would simultaneously curb the black economy and bring down the fiscal deficit. A BW Businessworld survey at the workplace, brings to the fore efforts the corporate leadership have made to help their employees overcome the cash crunch that has ensued since November 9.
Some of our columnists have taken the contrarian view, to question the pain and inconvenience thrust on the masses, while others have lauded the Prime Minister for a bold decision. Through columns by experts, interviews with key decision-makers and in-depth reports, we attempt to look at the larger picture post demonetisation. We looked at the short-term and long-term impact of demonetisation in the last issue of this magazine. In this issue we scrutinise its fallout on the economy.
Reverting to the theme of this edition, I reiterate that being Super Rich is not just about wealth. It is about a mindset. India’s Super Rich 2016 are super givers and super creators beyond wealth and they remind me of what John Rockefeller had once said, “The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities - a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.”
BW Reporters
The author is the Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of the BW Businessworld Group and the Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the exchange4media Group
