According to a recent global rich list released by the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute, Mumbai has surpassed Beijing to become Asia’s billionaire capital for the first time. The city boasts 92 billionaires, placing it just behind New York with 119 and London with 97 billionaires.
Led by business leaders including Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries and Gautam Adani of Adani Group, and aided by a robust economy that grew by 7.5% in 2023, India as a whole added 94 people to its list of 271 billionaires, the report showed. That was India’s highest number since 2013.
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Indian Economy Boosts Billionaire Growth
“Confidence in the [Indian] economy grew to record levels,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, the institute’s chairman and chief researcher of the report.
While China remained top of the list with 814 billionaires, its number of ultra-rich has shrunk by 155 from 2022 as the country’s real estate and renewable energy sectors struggled to grow, and its stock markets remained weak. The U.S. closed in on China in 2023, adding 109 to take second place with a total of 800 billionaires.
Among India’s new faces on the list are Rohiqa Cyrus Mistry who leads the financial company Sterling Investments, and Ina Ashwin Dani of paint manufacturer Asian Paints. Mistry is the wife of the late Cyrus Mistry, the estranged former chairman of Tata Group.
Ambani was the wealthiest person in India, with $115 billion in assets, followed by Adani with $86 billion.
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Shifts in China’s Billionaire Landscape
In China, Zhong Shanshan of Nongfu Spring, a bottled water producer, topped the rich list for the fourth straight year with assets of $63 billion. But it was Colin Huang, the founder of e-commerce operator Pinduoduo that stole the limelight after overtaking Pony Ma of Tencent Holdings to take second place.
Huang’s wealth grew by 71% to $53 billion as the discount operator’s earnings results exceeded market expectations, while the company’s overseas platform Temu continued to make inroads in Europe and the U.S.
Overall, wealth controlled by China’s billionaires fell by 15%, while as many as 40% from the Hurun list of two years ago have lost their places, said Hoogewerf.
“Wealth creation in China has gone through deep changes these last few years, with the wealth of billionaires from real estate and renewables down,” he added.
Among them were Wang Jianlin of property developer Dalian Wanda Group who saw his wealth fall to $4.2 billion from $11 billion within a year. Similarly, the wealth of Robin Zeng Yuqun of lithium battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology and Li Zhenguo of solar panel maker Longi Green Energy Technology shrank as supply gluts continued to plague their industries.
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