The League Of Extraordinary Businessman

In the super-screen of the great Indian growth narrative, entrepreneurs and risk takers have no small roles by which they can mesmerise the onlookers. Building and nurturing a business empire — small of big — can be a decades-long and arduous task, though, finally, it can prove to be a richly rewarding experience.

No surprise, therefore, that a number of people in this edition of the Super Rich comprise entrepreneurs and businessmen (-women) across fields as diverse as automobiles and finance, oil and chemicals, as well as those who have raised and nurtured businesses for a long while.

Due to their entrepreneurial zeal, a growing number of the country’s top billionaires have been relentlessly pushing the boundaries of business despite the tough economic conditions. If a business or product succeeds, no greater reward awaits them than stock-market glory.

This year’s Super Rich have been assisted by a market that has surged since March, constituting more than seven months of our period of study. It’s worth noting that the markets were meandering in the early part of the study; the later recovery, however, has been nothing but spectacular. The listed Indian business elite added nearly Rs 1.17 lakh crore to their wealth, surging five percent over last year.

Additionally, more than 60 per cent of the business tycoons have seen their wealth surge the last year, even as the stock markets scrapped minor gains till 30 September suggesting the markets rewards the risk-takers.

Quite a large number of business persons, however, are growing their wealth, and now command a dominant share. The top 20 in the list own nearly half the wealth of the present study. Pareto’s law is also coming to pass in this edition of Super Rich with nearly 20 percent owning 80 per cent of the wealth.

By and large, India is now adding wealth faster than the rest of the world. According to the Global Wealth Report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute, wealth expanded by 1.4 per cent to $256 trillion. Growth opportunities in India’s, with its GDP rising at more than 7 per cent, are humongous — and go a-begging. Since 2000, Indian wealth has averaged six per cent growth.

Nevertheless, measured in dollars, Indian entrepreneurs lag behind. The rupee’s depreciation has shrunk Indian wealth. Since 2010, the average Indian wealth has dipped from $5,100 an adult in India to about $3,840 in mid-2016, according to the Global Wealth Report 2016.

Towering at the very apex of this elite pile is oil, and now, telecoms magnate, Mukesh Ambani with Rs 1.51 lakh crore ($22.2 billion). The business tycoon has entered into the already highly-competitive telecoms business with an offering so compelling that Reliance Jio, within a short span, now boasts nearly 50 million customers. Little surprise, then, that the senior Ambani’s wealth surged by Rs 25,040 crore this year, and stock markets cheered him on with their response, so receptive were they to the new business plan.

Just below him on the list is another telecoms czar, Sunil Mittal, even though his wealth dipped by Rs 7,407 crore, thanks to the keen competition in telecoms. But the surprise in this year’s Super Rich list is metals mogul Anil Agarwal. The man’s wealth skyrocketed by Rs 56,044 crore ($8.2 billion), thanks in large part to a recovery in metals globally, and the mammoth restructuring exercise undertaken in all his businesses, coupled with the Cairn India amalgamation with Vedanta.

Even as the core industries of telecoms and metals are the talk of the markets, financial services has not been left too far behind. The consumption boom is being largely driven by companies financing individual purchases. Here, Sanjiv Bajaj, the senior scion of the Bajaj family, has seen his net worth soar to Rs 53,224 crore ($7.8 billion). His financial services empire is making small loans available in every nook and corner of the country and, in the process, generating immense wealth for him.

New entrepreneurs have also made it onto the list. Rakesh Gangwal made a grand entry with Rs 26,746 crore ($3.9 billion), as Interglobe Aviation’s IPO took a deep bow in the stock market. The owners of Alkem Laboratories, Basudeo Narain Singh & family, also debuted, with Rs 13,610 crore ($2 billion).

While successful entrepreneurship continues to be the dominant theme of the Rich List, those there are who have invested in other people’s businesses, and thereby generated extraordinary wealth. This route is not easy, and the number of people who have made fortunes here are small, nearly 480 entrepreneurs worth Rs 100 crore and more.

Another interesting observation is that most of the wealth in this year’s list has been added by those in metals, mining, financial services and autos. Rising consumption has been driving demand for autos and two-wheelers, and other white-goods services, while financing these has been the prime driver of the wealth of entrepreneurs in financial services.

India is, however, much larger. The country has nearly 2.48 lakh individuals in the top one per cent of global wealth holders, says the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s report. But Indians don’t always hold their wealth in financial assets. Hence, Credit Suisse estimates that real assets make up nearly 85.5 per cent of household wealth. Non-financial wealth, nevertheless, has slipped from 87.6 per cent in 2000 to the present levels.

Financial assets, on the other hand, have seen a slight increase — from 12.4 per cent in 2000 to 14.5 per cent in 2016 — suggesting that more people are creating wealth through building new business enterprises. Hopefully, the share of risk takers will get even bigger — and more entrepreneurs play a greater role in adding to their wealth in our next Super Rich list.