collector’s edition 2016 5- c o v e r

special

Price rs. 300. december 21, 2016

The

www.forbesindia.com
 collector’s edition 2016
december 21, 2016

second forbes
highest india
wealth rich list
2016
gainer
(in % terms)
Rank 35

AjAy pirAmAl piramal group

www.forbesindia.com
 collector’s edition 2016
december 21, 2016

richest forbes
self - made india
rich list
woman 2016

Rank 65

KirAN
mAZUmDAr
SHAW
biocon

www.forbesindia.com
 collector’s edition 2016
december 21, 2016

returnee forbes
india
rich list
2016

Rank 89

viKAS oberoi
oberoi realty

www.forbesindia.com
 collector’s edition 2016
december 21, 2016

new
entrants forbes
india
rich list
2016

Rank 95

tUrAKHiA
brotHerS
( l - r ) d i vya n k a n d
b h av i n t u r a k h i a

directi

www.forbesindia.com
Welcome to the
I NDIA

Tablet Edition

The Billionaires Club
while the bansals of flipkart fail to make the cut,
the turakhia brothers debut on the rich list this year
A
s India seeks to
free itself from the
shackles of red tape
and stakes claim in
the ease-of-business
sweepstakes, the
unleashing of entrepreneurial
energies is in evidence. The
2016 Forbes India Rich List, the
definitive listing of the country’s
100 wealthiest, sees a record cut-off
this year at $1.25 billion, up from
the previous year’s $1.1 billion.
The aggregate wealth of India’s
100 richest people has gone up to
$381 billion, up 10 percent in line
with the movement of the markets
over the same period. The higher
cut-off means fewer newcomers—
only six—this year. The top five
slots are occupied by Mukesh
Ambani (who leads the list for
the ninth consecutive time), Dilip
Shanghvi, the Hinduja brothers,
Azim Premji and Pallonji Mistry.
Slice and dice the list a little and
some interesting facets emerge.
While the pharmaceuticals sector
and diversified businesses throw
up the most number of billionaires,
the government’s focus on
infrastructure and housing has led
to huge gains for the cement and
paints sector. Benu Gopal Bangur of
Shree Cement, for instance, powers
into the top 15 for the first time,
while Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints
adds over $1 billion to his wealth.
Despite the challenges in the real
estate sector, Kushal Pal Singh of
DLF is the top wealth gainer in
percentage terms, buoyed by news
of a stake sale plan in his rental arm,
The 100 richesT indians
(l e t t e r fro m th e e dito r)
and Vikas Oberoi of Oberoi Realty
also makes a comeback to the list.
The distribution of wealth within
the top 100 continues to improve,
with the top 20 contributing 52
percent of the aggregate wealth.
This is particularly significant, given
that the share of the top 20 stood at
a much higher 70 percent in 2009.
If the entry of Sachin and Binny
Bansal was the big news from 2015,
this year sees the two Flipkart
founders drop out of the top 100,
reflecting the reality check being
witnessed by the Indian ecommerce
sector. But it’s not as if the emerging
sectors aren’t represented: Bhavin
and Divyank Turakhia of Directi best,
make their debut, propelled by the
spectacular $900 million sale of
their ad-tech firm Media.net. As
new ideas and ventures emerge, Sourav MajuMdar
fresh faces such as these are likely editor, Forbes India
to continue to find a place in the list.
Aside from the number- sourav.majumdar@network18publishing.com
crunching and the stories behind @TheSouravM
the billions, this collector’s issue
brings you rare pictures of the
tycoons from their personal albums.
We also highlight the ten most
influential billionaires on Twitter
and some of their most popular
tweets, which give a glimpse into
how they view important events
and issues. Chief Photo Editor
Vikas Khot and Design Director
Anjan Das then join hands with
consulting fashion director Yatan
Ahluwalia to present some of
the latest trends in fashion and
grooming. After all, success, wealth
and style must go hand in hand.
Happy reading!
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 7
 Contents / december 21, 2016 ● Volume 8 Issue 23

the 54

100
richest
indians
(q u i c k ta k e s )

12 | THE WEALTH
ROLLER-COASTER
The biggest gainers and losers

16 | THE FIRST-TIMERS
Six billionaires who made their
debut on the list

45 | THE DROPOUTS
The 13 who failed
to make the cut this year

(t h e l i s t)

20 | WIRELESS WARFARE
How the right call changed
fortunes for billionaires

41 | TELLING THEIR
FORTUNES
Parsing the numbers for
the rich and the famous Piramal group chairman ajay Piramal has managed to avoid any serious misstep

( p r o f i l e s)

48 | BIOCON’S BREWMASTER
Her business canny and resilience
has helped Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
build Biocon into a global force
to reckon with

54 | EYE ON THE PRIZE

By taking a path less travelled,
Ajay Piramal has built a diversified
empire of successful businesses
54: Joshua NaValkar; 48: bmaxImage

60 | KARMA AT WORK
Vikas Oberoi has transformed
his father’s small firm into
India’s second-most valued real
estate developer

48
kiran mazumdar-shaw, chairperson and md of biocon, is not afraid of sharing her strong views

8 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 Contents

60
66 | A CUSTODIAN
OF WEALTH
How to make money
without yearning for it,
the Azim Premji way

70 | THE GOLD RUSH

From Rs 1,200 and a long-term
vision in tow, Rajesh Mehta
has built a multimillion-dollar
jewellery enterprise

78 | THE FORCE
IS WITH FIRODIA
The auto tycoon is carrying
forward his father’s legacy of
transformative mass travel

82 | COMPLEXITY REQUIRED
Toying with tech from a tender age
has made the Turakhia brothers
young billionaires

114: Joshua NaValkar; 128: bmaxImage; 134: selVaPrakash lakshmaNaN for forbes INdIa; 160: arINdam mukherJee for forbes INdIa
Vikas oberoi, oberoi realty’s chairman and md, uses the principles of karma to build a brand

86 | FABRIC-ATION?
How the Goenkas of the Welspun
Group ripped a centre seam and fell
off the list

( i n t e r v i e w)

74 | ‘NOTHING LACKING
IN INDIAN STARTUP
ENTREPRENEURS’
The entrepreneurship scene in India
is alive and kicking, feels Infosys
co-founder NR Narayana Murthy

(b i g e x i t)

88 | ADD TO CART, CHECKOUT

A year after their debut,
the Bansals of Flipkart
are out of the list. 78
Here’s why
rajesh mehta, founder and executive chairman of rajesh exports, is shy of flaunting his wealth

74

92
Infosys co-founder Nr Narayana murthy is impressed with new ideas Prashant bangur, joint md of shree cement, learnt a lot from his father

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 9

 the 100 richest indians Contents
104

models at their stylish best while attempting the billionaire look

96

(o b i t u a r y) (p h oto f e at u r e )

90 | VALUE CREATOR 96 | SEASONS IN THE SUN

For Brijmohan Lall Munjal,
honesty and integrity
were essential to building
a successful business
(next g e n)
92 | A STRONG
FOUNDATION
How Prashant Bangur
cemented his position in
his father’s company
A look into the albums
of some of India’s billionaires
(t w i t t e r ta l k )
102 | A LITTLE BIRD TOLD US
The 10 most influential
business leaders on Twitter
(s t y l e)
104 | THE STYLE MEISTERS
How to master the billion-dollar look

We value your feedback.

Write to us at: forbes.india@network18online.com  letters may be edited for brevity.
read us online at www.forbesindia.com
cover Typography: anjan das
on the cover & this page: Joshua Navalkar (ajay Piramal, Vikas oberoi);
bmaximage (kiran mazumdar-shaw); eric millette for forbes India (Turakhia
brothers) digital Imaging by: sushil mhatre

emami co-founder radhe shyam agarwal and wife in kashmir REGULARS 114 | THOUGHTS
104: VIkas khoT

subscriber service: To subscribe, change address or enquire about other customer services, please contact: forbes INdIa, subscription cell, c/o digital 18 media ltd,
empire complex, 414, senapati bapat marg, lower Parel, mumbai - 400013. Tel: 022 4001 9816 / 9782. fax- 022-24910804 (mon – friday: 10 am - 6 pm)
sms forbes to 51818 email: subscribe@forbesindiamagazine.com, To subscribe, visit www.forbesindia.com/subscription/
To advertise, visit www.forbesindia.com/advertise/

10 | forbes india december 21, 2016


CEO-News & Group Editor-in-Chief:
Rahul Joshi
Editor, Forbes India:
Sourav Majumdar
Executive Editor:
Abhilasha Khaitan
Deputy Executive Editor:
N Madhavan
Design Director: Anjan Das
Senior Associate Editor:
Pravin Palande
Associate Editors:
Monica Bathija, Aveek Datta
Editor (Technology):
Harichandan Arakali
Senior Assistant Editors:
Salil Panchal, Samar Srivastava,
Debojyoti Ghosh
Assistant Editors: Anshul Dhamija,
Paramita Chatterjee
Correspondents:
Angad Singh Thakur,
Shruti Venkatesh
Head of Desk: Kunal Purandare
Deputy Heads of Desk:
Jasodhara Banerjee,
Kathakali Chanda
Chief Copy Editor: Pramod Mathew
Editor (Online) & Head-Events:
Neeraj Gangal
Senior Data Analyst-Online:
Bhagwan Patil
Web Programmer: Aditi Satam
Senior Art Director:
Benu Joshi Routh
Art Director: Minal Shetty
Graphics Director: Sameer Pawar
Chief Designer: Sachin Dagwale
Senior Principal Designer:
Pradeep Belhe
Principal Designer:
Pandharinath Pawar
Chief Illustrator:
Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur
Chief Production Manager-Digital
Imaging & Print: Sushil Mhatre
Production Manager: Mithun Anare
Chief Photo Editor: Vikas Khot
Photo Editor: Mexy Xavier
Chief Photographer: Amit Verma
Senior Photographer:
IN DIA
Joshua Navalkar
Head-Photo Archives and Research:
Prakash Rasal
The 100 richesT indians
CEO-Forbes India & President-
Revenue, Network 18 News:
Joy Chakraborthy
CNBC TV18 PRODuCTS TEAM
Anurag Chatterjee, Dilshad
Ahmed Khan, Maulik Thakkar,
Neha Chatterjee, Rohan Thakural
FORBES INDIA ADVERTISING
SAlES TEAM
Vice President: Preeti Sahni
Girish Sharma, Amit Vaz,
Vinayak Ambekar, Brijesh Singh,
Atishay Singh, Vibhor Nigam,
Divya Bhatia, Mona Parate,
Kumar Kamble, Ajinkya Tambe
MARkETING
Vice President:
Priyanka Tiku
Assistant General Manager:
Neha Chimbulkar
Juhi Batra, Jitendra Gujar
SuBSCRIPTION
General Manager:
Subhadra Bose
Kaushal Pillai, Vinod Parab
CIRCulATION
Kripanand S
ADVERTISING OPERATIONS
Associate Vice President:
Sudha Rao
Smita Suvarna, Krishna Gupta,
Prashant Rane, Kalpita Sawant
Compliance:
Yug Samrat
legal and Corporate Affairs:
Ashis Panikkar
Finance:
Pinaki Saha
december 21, 2016
FORBES MEDIA llC
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief:
Steve Forbes
President & CEO: Mike Perlis
Chief Product Officer:
Lewis D Vorkin
CEO / Asia: William Adamopoulos
Editor, Forbes Asia: Tim Ferguson
Views & opinions expressed in this
magazine are not necessarily those
of Digital18 Media Limited (Digital18),
its publisher and/or editors. We (at
Digital 18) do our best to verify the
information published, but do not
take any responsibility for the absolute
accuracy of the information. Digital18
does not accept responsibility for
any investment or other decision
taken by readers on the basis
of information provided herein.
FORBES INDIA is published by Digital18
Media Limited under a license agreement
with Forbes LLC, 499 Washington Blvd.,
Jersey City, NJ 07310.
“FORBES” is a trademark used under license
from FORBES LLC.
©2009 Digital18 Media Ltd • ©2009 FORBES
LLC, as to material published in the U.S.
Edition of FORBES. All Rights Reserved.
©2009 FORBES LLC, as to material
published in the edition of FORBES ASIA.
All Rights Reserved.
Forbes India is published fortnightly.
Copying for other than personal use or
internal reference or of articles or columns
not owned by FORBES INDIA without
written permission of Forbes India is
expressly prohibited.
Editorial Office: Mumbai - Digital 18 Media Ltd,
Ground Floor, Empire Complex, 414, Senapati
Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013.
Tel:+91-22-66667777, Fax: +91-22-24910804.
Delhi - FC-7, Sector 16A, Film City, Noida,
Uttar Pradesh- 201 301. Tel: +91-120-469 1418.
Bangalore - Millennia Tower, Tower C, 6th
Floor, No.1&2, Murphy Road, Ulsoor,
Bangalore- 560 008. Tel: +91-80-4064 9191
Subscriber Service: To subscribe, change
address or enquire about other customer
services, please contact: FORBES INDIA,
Subscription Cell, Digital 18 Media Ltd, Ground
Floor, Empire Complex, 414, Senapati Bapat
Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013.
Tel: 022 4001 9816 / 9782.
Fax- 022-24910804 (Mon –Friday:
10 am - 6 pm) SMS FORBES to 51818
Email: subscribe@forbesindiamagazine.com,
To subscribe or advertise,
visit www.forbesindia.com
Forbes India is printed & published by
Sourav Majumdar on behalf of Digital18 Media
Limited & Printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt.
Ltd., Plot No. W-17 & W-18, MIDC Industrial
Area, Taloja - 410 208 & Published at Empire
Complex, 1ST Floor, 414, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400 013.
Editor: Sourav Majumdar
forbes india | 11
 The 100 richesT indians

( q u i c k( pta
r okfeisl)e s )

The Wealth
Rollercoaster
taking account of those who struck highs
and hit lows over the last year
By Salil Panchal

/ The BiGGesT Gainers /

KUSHAL PAL SINGH, DLF
ajay Piramal
+ $2.20 bln (84.62%)
Rank 22; 12 places


Kushal Pal Singh, who set up India’s

largest real estate developer DLF,
is the highest gainer in the 2016
Forbes India Rich List in terms of
percentage rise in wealth—it is up to
$4.8 billion in 2016 from $2.6 billion
in 2015. The jump in fortunes has been
fuelled by the rise in the DLF stock—
up 26.8 percent since September,
2015—after the board had last year
cleared a proposal through which the
promoters would sell 40 percent of
their stake in commercial property
development arm DLF Cyber City
Developers to institutional investors.
The proceeds of the stake sale—
estimated to be Rs 12,000 crore—
would be used to help the company
lower its debt of Rs 22,487 crore for
the quarter ending June 30, 2016.
The process has started; Blackstone
Group and GIC of Singapore are
believed to be among the bidders. 1.78 billion in 2015). His fortunes have a time when others have shied away
soared as the shares of his flagship and due to a sluggish growth trajectory.
AJAY PIRAMAL, Piramal Group holding company Piramal Enterprises (See Eye on the Prize, page 104)
+$1.47 bln (82.58%) Ltd (PEL) have risen (around 116.16
Rank 35; 27 places percent since September last year) VINOD & ANIL RAI


Ajay Piramal, chairman of the on the possibility that its financial GUPTA, Havells India
diversified $3.2 billion Piramal Group, services business could be spun +$960 mln (61.54%)
JoShua navalkar

is the second highest gainer in the 2016 off and listed separately in coming Rank 46; 28 places


Forbes India Rich List, both in terms years. The financial services arm is Vinod and Anil Rai Gupta are the
of rank (he was No. 62 in 2015) and in involved in wholesale lending to real highest gainers by rank in the 2016
terms of percentage rise in wealth ($ estate projects across major cities, at Forbes India Rich List, rising 28 places

12 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 The 100 richesT indians
this year to No. 46. Vinod is the wife
of Qimat Rai Gupta, who passed away
in November 2014, and first appeared
in the list in 2015 after inheriting her
husband’s shares in electricals firm
Havells India. The company has seen
a steady pace of growth across all the
main segments of switchgears, cables,
consumer durables and lighting. In
December last year, Havells agreed to
sell 80 percent stake in European light
maker Sylvania to China’s Shanghai
Feilo Acoustics for $205 million and
the balance over the next 3 to 5 years.
ASHWIN DANI, Asian Paints
+$ 1.1 bln (50%)
Rank 34; 9 places

The paints tycoon is the non-executive
vice chairman of Asian Paints,
which was founded by his father
and three others in 1942. He, along
with Benu Gopal Bangur of Shree
Cements, is among the 15 on the list
who have added over $1 billion to
their wealth over the previous year.
Reason: Asian Paints’ stock has risen
smartly this year—up 46.5 percent
since September last year—backed by
strong earnings growth. Factors like
an increase in residential and non-
residential construction spending,
besides gains in manufacturing
output and low raw material costs,
/ The BiGGesT LOsers /
Malvinder
& Shivinder
Singh
aMit verMa
14 | forbes india december 21, 2016
have spurred the growth of paint
companies in India over the past year.
VIVEK CHAAND SEHGAL,
Motherson Group
+$ 1.1 bln (44%)
Rank 31; 5 places

vivek
chaand
Sehgal
The co-founder of the $7.2-billion
Samvardhana Motherson Group got
a boost as net profits of the group’s
flagship firm Motherson Sumi
Systems rose by 36 percent in FY16,
to Rs 1,796 crore, which led to a
19.17 percent jump (since September
last year) in the company’s stock price.
Last month, Motherson Sumi had
raised Rs 1,993.44 crore through the
issuance of 6.28 crore shares
to qualified institutional buyers.
This auto-parts company is
now eyeing the North American
region and China for further
growth for its businesses.
HARSH MARIWALA, Marico
+$1.05 bln (40.54%)
Rank 30; 5 places

This consumer goods veteran is
amongst the 15 billionaires who has
seen an over $1 billion rise in wealth
in the year, backed by a 26 percent
jump in consolidated net profit for his
listed Marico for FY16, at Rs 724.79
crore on revenues of Rs 6,132 crore.
Its best-selling brands include Saffola
cooking oil and Parachute hair oil.
The company continues to bet on
India’s urban consumption growth
story and also expects rural demand
to revive in FY2017. Mariwala’s son
Rishabh operates the family office,
Sharrp Ventures, which looks after
the family’s investments across asset
classes (equity, real estate, debt
and also some seed, venture capital
and private equity opportunities)
and is also the co-founder at Soap
Opera N More, started by his
mother Archana Mariwala, which
sells niche handmade soaps.
MALVINDER & SHIVINDER
SINGH, Fortis Healthcare
-$390 mln (-22.03%)
Rank 92;  29 places
Fortunes continue to wane for the
two brothers in the Forbes India Rich
list for the fourth successive year; this
time, they have seen their sharpest
year-on-year percentage fall in both
wealth and rank, dropping to 92 from
63 last year. They were ranked 37
in 2014 and 26 in 2013. This year, a
Singapore arbitration court imposed a
$390 million fine on them for allegedly
suppressing and misrepresenting
facts when they sold their pharma
firm, Ranbaxy Laboratories, to
Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo eight years
ago. (Dilip Shanghvi’s Sun Pharma
took a controlling stake in Ranbaxy
in 2014.) Malvinder and Shivinder
have denied any wrongdoing and are
contesting the ruling in Singapore and
in India. The brothers have instead
focussed on building their health
care services businesses through
Fortis Healthcare, which was set up
in 2001. Last year, Shivinder gave up
his business responsibilities at Fortis
to focus on community spiritual
work at Radha Soami Satsang Beas,
to which the family is linked.
DILIP & ANAND
SURANA, Micro Labs
- $290 mln (-18.35%)
Rank 96;  24 places
The brothers who run generics firm
Micro Labs, which they inherited
from their late father Ghewar Chand
Surana, have had the second highest
percentage drop in wealth and a
sharp fall in rank too this year. The
Bengaluru-based firm has faced some
rough weather since a warning from
the US Food and Drug Administration
over quality concerns. Despite the
company’s stated growth ambitions,
the media has reported that Indoco
Remedies, a Mumbai-headquartered
Dilip Surana
pharmaceutical firm, has acquired
Micro Lab’s manufacturing facility
in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.
REDDY FAMILY,
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories
-$460 mln (-17.62%)
Rank 54;  21 places
Satish reddy
India’s second largest drug maker
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories had
disappointing earnings in the June
2016 quarter, and saw a 76.3 percent
decline in consolidated profit to
Rs 153.5 crore year-on-year while
revenue slid 14 percent for Q1FY17.
The company has said quarterly
earnings were weak due to the lack
of new launches in the first half of
2016, but expects the situation to
improve in the second half. The Reddy
family’s wealth has been impacted
by a 19.64 percent fall in stock prices
since September last year. To combat
the slump, Dr Reddy’s, which is
shared by late founder K Anji Reddy’s
son Satish Reddy and son-in-law
GV Prasad, has said that it plans to
invite US FDA officials to re-inspect
some of their factories, after getting
warning letters from the regulator.
MICKY JAGTIANI,
Landmark Group
-$ 900 mln (-16.98%)
Rank 24;  7 places
Jagtiani founded and chairs the
Landmark Group, which has an
estimated revenue of $6 billion
and more than 2,400 stores spread
across the Middle East, Africa
and India. It recently inked an
agreement to open new stores
with Abu Dhabi’s upcoming
Reem Mall and also with Oman’s
Muscat Grand Mall. The group
had suspended sales of all Trump-
branded products last December
after the US presidential candidate
made anti-Muslim remarks.
Jagtiani also owns a minority stake
in British retailer Debenhams.
LEENA TIWARI, USV India
-$270 mln (-14.21%)
Rank 79;  25 places
The media-shy heir of privately-
held generic drug company USV
India, which is run by her husband
Prashant, saw her position drop
both in terms of percentage wealth
(-14.21%) and rank (to 79 from
54 last year). The company was
started by her late father as a joint
venture with Revlon in 1961. USV
specialises in the highly competitive
areas of diabetic and cardiovascular
drugs, with a portfolio that spans
biosimilar drugs and injectables and
active pharmaceutical ingredients.
It has operations in Asia, Africa,
the Middle East, CIS, and Panama.
SHIV NADAR, HCL Group
- $1.5 bln; (-11.63%)
Rank 8;  2 places
Amongst the top 10 richest Indians,
Nadar saw his rank fall two places
from the previous year to No 8
while his wealth has fallen by
$1.5 billion, to $11.4 billion. He
is the co-founder of the HCL
Group, the bulk of whose revenues
comes from the IT major HCL
Technologies. The company has
Surana: vivek Mathew
been facing some pressure in terms
of slowing growth, reporting a
6 percent sequential growth in
revenues—which stood at Rs 11,336
crore—for the April-June quarter.
Nadar, now 71, is keen to pass on
the baton to his only child Roshni.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 15
 The 100 richesT indians
( q u(i cp kr ota l e s)
f ik
The First-Timers
six india inc members made their debut
in the billionaires club this year
Pawan Munjal
$3.65 billion
Rich List rank: 29
Pawan Munjal takes his father’s place
in the 2016 Forbes India Rich List
(Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the founder
of the Hero Group who passed away
in November last year, was ranked
No. 27 in the 2015 Forbes India Rich
List). Despite operating in a highly
competitive and volatile auto industry,
Hero MotoCorp has managed to
retain its dominant position in the
two-wheeler segment. During FY16,
the country’s largest two-wheeler
maker recorded sales of over 6.6
million units (bikes and scooters) in
the domestic market. Hero parted
ways with its long-term partner and
Japanese automaker Honda Motor
Company in December 2010 and
since then, Pawan Munjal, 62, who
Pawan Munjal
AMit VerMA
16 | forbes india december 21, 2016
By DeBojyoti Ghosh
was recently appointed chairman,
managing director and CEO of Hero
MotoCorp, has been instrumental
in driving the company’s expansion
in foreign markets. Last year, the
company opened its first overseas
facility in Colombia and in the
current fiscal it plans to launch its
second overseas plant in Bangladesh.
Earlier this year, the billionaire
entrepreneur also invested Rs 850
crore to set up a research facility,
with over 500 engineers, in Jaipur.
acharya Balkrishna
$2.5 billion
Rich List rank: 48
Riding on Patanjali Ayurved’s
stratospheric success, co-founder
Acharya Balkrishna makes his debut
on the 2016 Forbes India Rich List.
The self-made billionaire holds
97 percent in the consumer goods
company that he started in 2006
along with his childhood friend
and yoga guru Baba Ramdev. While
Ramdev doesn’t hold any stake in the
business, he has been instrumental
in building the company’s brand
equity. Ramdev’s popularity with
his millions of disciples has given
the homegrown player an edge in an
industry dominated by global giants
such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble
and Colgate. Apart from running
the FMCG business, Balkrishna,
44, also oversees 5,000 Patanjali
clinics and health care centres, and
operates a yoga and ayurveda research
institute. He is also the founder of the
University of Patanjali in Haridwar.
According to the company, Patanjali
Ayurved, which sells personal care,
home care, food and health care
products under its brand, recorded
net sales of Rs 5,000 crore for FY16.
satish Mehta
$1.6 billion
Rich List rank: 82
From being a domestic player, Satish
Mehta’s Emcure Pharmaceuticals
today has made its presence felt in
the global branded generic drug
market with 60 percent of its revenues
coming from overseas, largely North
America. The Pune-based company
that 65-year-old Mehta, managing
director and CEO, founded in 1981
as a contract drug manufacturer for
multinationals, today sells its branded
generic products in 65 countries and
operates nine manufacturing facilities
including one in the US. The sustained
growth of Emcure has ensured
Mehta’s place on the list. Earlier
this year, the unlisted company,
in which private equity firm Bain
Capital has invested, was faced with
a crisis when the US Food and Drug
Administration issued a warning letter
saying the regulator had inspected the
company’s facility at Hinjewadi, Pune,
and found “significant violations” of
standard manufacturing practices.
jai hari & yadu hari dalMia
$1.5 billion
Rich List rank: 88
The Dalmia brothers Jai Hari, 71,
and Yadu Hari, 69, make an entry
into the Forbes India Rich List as
the share prices of their cement
company surged in the beginning of
the current fiscal. Benefiting from
rising demand, cement maker Dalmia
Bharat recorded a 76 percent year-
on-year jump in profit in the first
quarter of this fiscal, moving its share
price up by 120 percent between
April and September this year, which
outperformed those of peers such as
UltraTech Cement, Shree Cement and
ACC. The siblings inherited India’s
fourth-largest cement company from
their father Jaidayal Dalmia, who
set up the cement business in 1939.
jai hari Dalmia
The group’s other businesses include
sugar and energy and the company,
headquartered in New Delhi, counts
private equity major KKR as its
largest institutional shareholder.
Bhavin & divyank turakhia
$1.3 billion
Rich List rank: 95
The siblings are one of the new breed
of successful tech entrepreneurs
from India who have made it to the
billion-dollar club quite early in
shamsheer Vayalil
Bhavin (left) & Divyank turakhia
their career. In August, Divyank,
34, sold his advertising-technology
startup Media.net for a staggering
$900 million to a group of Chinese
investors. Bhavin, 36, played a key
role in the negotiation of the deal.
This, along with their personal
investments and other exits, made for
the debut of the Turakhia brothers
on the 2016 Forbes India Rich List.
The tech duo has had other exits
prior to this deal, including sale of
their web-hosting business for $160
million to Nasdaq-listed Endurance
Group in 2014. Since their teens,
the brothers have been involved in
creating businesses such as voice and
messaging services, web hosting,
cloud infrastructure, etc. The duo
founded technology company
Directi in 1998 as teenagers. At
present, Directi has over 1,500
employees with offices in Mumbai,
Delhi, Bengaluru, Dubai, New
York, Zurich and other cities.
shaMsheer vayalil
$1.27 billion
Rich List rank: 98
Born into a business family in Kerala,
Shamsheer Vayalil, 39, always
wanted to become an entrepreneur.
A radiologist, he founded VPS
Healthcare in 2007 and opened a
hospital in Abu Dhabi. Today, he
runs a network of hospital chains,
medical centres, clinics and
pharmacies across the GCC countries
and India, including Abu Dhabi’s
largest private tertiary centre,
Burjeel Hospital, also considered
VPS’s flagship hospital. This year,
VPS forayed into the Indian market
with the acquisition of Lakeshore
Hospital, one of the largest super-
speciality hospitals in Kochi,
followed by the acquisition of New-
Delhi based Rockland Hospitals
in July. He is also the son-in-law
of billionaire entrepreneur MA
Yusuff Ali, who is No. 25 in the
2016 Forbes India Rich List.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 17
 the

100
richest
indians
Inside:
The List
The 100 rIchesT IndIans

(o v e r v i e w)

Wireless Warfare
By NAAZNEEN KARMALI

t
he September launch
of Jio, the long-awaited
4G phone service
of oil and gas giant
Reliance Industries
(Reliance Industries is
the owner of Network18, publishers of
Forbes India), unleashed a price war
in India’s hypercompetitive telecom
market with an offer of a four-month
free trial followed by free voice
calls and messaging and low-priced
data services. Stocks of incumbents,
including telecom pioneer Sunil
Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, tumbled.
Mittal, who founded his Singtel-
backed company 21 years ago, has the
most to lose; one in four Indians with
a mobile phone is an Airtel customer.
Sunil Mittal ranks
To fight off the fearsome competitor, 12th on the
Mittal bought 4G spectrum from 2016 Forbes
India Rich List
struggling rivals for $1.2 billion
and topped it up by buying more
at a recent government auction. boosted cement and paint fortunes. the spot of his father, Brijmohan Lall
Reliance chairman Mukesh Soaring shares of his Shree Cement Munjal, who died last November.
Ambani, who wants to sign up propelled Benu Gopal Bangur into Eight returned to the ranks after
100 million customers in short the top 20 for the first time. He and their companies outperformed the
order, accused Airtel and others of Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints were stock market’s 12 percent rise in the
blocking Jio’s calls to their networks among 15 people who added more past year, including biotech pioneer
during the trial phase. Airtel said it than $1 billion to their wealth. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, India’s
had always provided access to Jio With the entry price to the top 100 richest self-made woman. Efforts
and increased the interconnection at a record $1.25 billion, there are to revive Suzlon by founder and
points to its network after Jio’s only six newcomers this year. The former billionaire Tulsi Tanti have
commercial launch. The standoff youngest are serial entrepreneurs yet to restore his place in the roster.
notwithstanding, both are better Bhavin, 36, and Divyank Turakhia, The 13 who dropped off include
ChESNot / GEtty IMAGES

off this year. While Mittal’s wealth
rose on new information about his
private assets, Ambani retained the
No 1 spot for the ninth consecutive
year on a 21 percent rise in Reliance’s
shares in the past 12 months.
The government’s infrastructure
push and housing-for-all policy
34, who sold their ad tech firm
Media.net for $900 million in August
this year (see story, page 146). Another
new face is Acharya Balkrishna, who
co-founded consumer goods-maker
Patanjali Ayurved with his friend,
yoga guru Baba Ramdev. Two-
wheeler tycoon Pawan Munjal takes
not only textile figure Balkrishan
Goenka (see story, page 150) but
also pals Sachin Bansal and Binny
Bansal (page 154), co-founders of
Flipkart, amid uncertainty about the
ecommerce giant’s valuation.
Additional reporting by megha bahree,
sean kilachand and anuradha raghunathan

20 | forbes india december 21, 2016

The 100 richesT indians the Top 10

1.  Mukesh AMbAni
$22.7 BILLION 
SOURCE: Oil & gas
AGE: 59. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Oil and gas tycoon sparked telecom
price war with the launch of 4G phone
service Jio at the annual shareholders’
meeting of his Reliance Industries in
September. The $44.7 billion (revenue)
Reliance Industries is locked in a legal
battle with the government related to
the recovery of costs associated with
developing a gas field. Wife Nita, who
sits on Reliance’s board, is a member of
the International Olympic Committee.
(Reliance Industries owns Network18,
the publishers of Forbes India.)

2.  Dilip shAnghvi
$16.9 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 60. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
India’s richest pharma magnate’s
wealth is down by $1.1 billion along
with a drop in shares of his Sun
Pharmaceutical Industries, the
world’s fifth-largest generics maker.
The company’s profitability improved
in a recent quarter partly due to US
sales of the generic version of Glivec,
a leukaemia drug made by Novartis.
Earlier this year, Sun acquired 14
drugs from Novartis in Japan for
$293 million that will be distributed
by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.

• India’s ODI and T20 captain

MS Dhoni is brand ambassador for
Sun’s Revital H health supplement

Up down Unchanged new to list retUrnee

22 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 3.  hinDujA brothers
$15.2 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
RESIDENCES: London/Geneva/
Mumbai
Four close-knit siblings, Srichand,
Gopichand, Prakash and Ashok,
control the Hinduja Group, a
far-flung multinational empire
with businesses ranging from
trucks and lubricants to banking
and cable television. The group
commissioned its much-delayed
1,040 megawatt thermal power
unit in south India in July
and is reportedly in the fray
to acquire SunEdison’s Indian
solar power assets. The brothers
are expected to open London’s
first Raffles Hotel in the historic
Old War Office building in
Whitehall they bought 2 years
ago with a Spanish group.
Gopichand Hinduja

4.  AziM preMji 5.  pAllonji Mistry

$15 BILLION  $13.9 BILLION 
SOURCE: Information SOURCE: Diversified
Technology AGE: 87. Married, 4 Children
AGE: 71. Married, 2 Children RESIDENCES: Mumbai/London
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru Reclusive tycoon’s engineering
Tech magnate’s $7.7 billion and construction giant, 151-year-
(revenue) Wipro, India’s third- old Shapoorji Pallonji Group,
largest outsourcer, reported a is run by older son Shapoor.
6 percent fall in net earnings to Younger son Cyrus chairs the
$304 million in a recent quarter $108 billion (revenue) Tata
amid sluggish sales. To boost Group, a conglomerate of more
growth, Wipro has been on a than 100 companies, including
buying spree in the past year. valuable outsourcer Tata
Its most recent acquisition Consultancy Services. Mistry’s
was HealthPlan Services, an 18.4 percent stake in holding
insurance-technology firm based outfit Tata Sons is his biggest
in Florida, for $460 million. But asset. Shapoor is reportedly
PORTRAITS: ChAITAnyA DIneSh SuRPuR

it called off the $130 million negotiating to acquire a 51

purchase of New Jersey-based percent stake in Karaikal Port in
Viteos Group, citing delays South India. This year, Mistry
in completion of the deal. In received the Padma Bhushan, one
August, Premji completed of India’s highest civilian awards.
five decades as Wipro’s
boss. (See story, page 124)

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 23

The 100 richesT indians
6.  lAkshMi MittAl
$12.5 BILLION 
SOURCE: Steel
AGE: 66. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: London
After declining for two years,
the steel baron climbs two
spots as his ArcelorMittal
reported net profit of $1.1 billion
in a recent quarter, its best in
five years. The world’s biggest
steelmaker, which has been
buffeted by a global supply glut
caused by exports from China,
got a reprieve from an uptick
in demand and import tariffs
on steel imposed by the US and
Europe. In 2015, Arcelor saw
revenue fall by 20 percent to
$64 billion and its net loss rise
sevenfold to $7.9 billion. Arcelor,
together with Italian steelmaker
Marcegaglia, has bid for Italy’s
loss-making ILVA steel plant.
8.  shiv nADAr
$11.4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Information
Technology
AGE: 71. Married, 1 Child
RESIDENCE: Delhi
IT pioneer’s homegrown software
outfit HCL Technologies is
reportedly mulling a US listing.
In February, it acquired Volvo’s
IT outsourcing arm for $130
million and simultaneously
signed a deal with the Swedish
automaker to provide software
services. In April, HCL agreed
to acquire Mumbai software
firm Geometric, controlled by
the Godrej family, in a share
swap valued at $190 million. His
eponymous Nadar University
is partnering with Dell for
technology projects in areas such
as cloud computing and big data.
24 | forbes india december 21, 2016
the Top 10
7.  goDrej fAMily
$12.4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Consumer Goods,
Real Estate
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Clan behind the $4.6 billion
(revenue) Godrej Group, a
119-year-old consumer-goods
giant, which is aiming for a
tenfold increase in revenue
every 10 years, has been on
an acquisition spree. Godrej
Consumer Products, overseen
by patriarch Adi Godrej,
boosted its presence in Africa
with the acquisition of three
personal care companies in
Zambia, Senegal and Kenya.
Dairy and agribusiness firm
Godrej Agrovet took majority
stakes in agrochemicals
firm Astec LifeSciences and
Creamline Dairy. Private unit
Godrej & Boyce acquired
online home-decor firm
India Circus in January.
9.  kuMAr birlA
$8.8 BILLION 
SOURCE: Commodities
AGE: 49. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Commodities king, who chairs
the $41 billion (revenue) Aditya
Birla Group, is restructuring
his empire. In August, he
announced the merger of
Aditya Birla Nuvo with cash-
rich Grasim Industries, to be
followed by the demerger of
the financial services business
into a separate company.
Shares of both companies fell
on investor concerns that the
merger lacked synergies. Birla
defended the move, saying
it would create a company
that combines growth with
stability. In April, Birla’s
UltraTech Cement concluded
the $2.4 billion acquisition of
rival Jaypee Group’s cement
units. Daughter Ananya has
founded a microfinance firm.
 10.  Cyrus poonAwAllA
$8.6 BILLION 
SOURCE: Vaccines
AGE: 75. Widower, 1 Child
RESIDENCE: Pune
Vaccine billionaire, who set up
Serum Institute of India 50 years
ago, gained on rising revenue and
profit at the privately owned firm,
which son, Adar, helps him run.
Serum reported a record profit of
$360 million on revenue of $695
million for the year ended March
2016. Poonawalla is investing $150
million in a factory to make a range
of new vaccines, including for
dengue, pneumonia and diarrhoea.
Adar featured among Forbes Asia’s
Heroes of Philanthropy this year
for donating $15 million to cleaning
up Pune, where the family resides.

Up down Unchanged new to list retUrnee

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 25

The 100 richesT indians
11.  uday KotaK
$8.3 BILLION 
SOURCE: Banking
AGE: 57. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
After acquiring rival ING Vysya Bank
22 months ago, his Kotak Mahindra
Bank is reaping the benefits of
that merger. Net profit in a recent
quarter doubled to $159 million.
Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board recently received Reserve
Bank approval to increase its stake
in the bank from 5 percent to 10
percent. The Canadian pension fund
manager has partnered with the bank
for a $525 million fund to acquire
stressed assets of Indian banks.
Commenting on rising bad loans at
state-owned banks, Kotak recently
said: “Return of capital is more
important than return on capital.”
12.  Sunil Mittal
$6.6 BILLION 
SOURCE: Telecom
AGE: 59. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Shares of telecom tycoon’s Bharti
Airtel tumbled in September with
the arrival of Reliance Jio. [Reliance
Industries owns Network18, the
publishers of Forbes India.] But
his wealth is up based on new
information about his private assets.
13.  GautaM adani
$6.3 BILLION 
SOURCE: Infrastructure,
Commodities
AGE: 54. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Ahmedabad
Ports tycoon was impacted by a fall
in shares of his Adani Ports & SEZ,
which his son Karan runs as chief
executive. Adani’s controversial
coal-mining project in Queensland
got a reprieve when a federal court
in August dismissed a legal challenge
by an environmental group to the
approval granted by the government.
At home, Adani is expanding into solar
Up down Unchanged new to list
26 | forbes india december 21, 2016
power with projects in Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat and Rajasthan. The group also
plans to make solar panels, but hasn’t
yet selected a technology partner.
14.  Benu Gopal BanGur
$5.9 BILLION 
SOURCE: Cement
AGE: 85. Widower, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Kolkata
Patriarch enters top 20 for the first
time on soaring shares of his Shree
Cement, which boosted his wealth by
$2 billion. The cement maker benefited
from a surge in sales and lower energy
costs due to a fall in coal prices. Son
Hari Mohan and grandson Prashant,
who run the company, have earmarked
$330 million for capacity expansion.
(Prashant Bangur story, see page 160)
15.  anand BurMan
$5.85 BILLION 
SOURCE: Consumer goods
AGE: 64. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Five branches of the Burman clan,
which he heads, share the wealth,
the bulk of which is derived from a
retUrnee
68 percent stake in the $1.3 billion
(revenue) consumer-goods firm
Dabur. The company reported
a rise in revenue, mainly from
growing demand for its hair oils,
toothpaste, packaged juices and
home-care products. Dabur is
developing two ayurvedic drugs, for
malaria and diabetes, in partnership
with the Indian government.
16.  ShaShi & ravi ruia
$5.8 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 72. Married, 2 Children
AGE: 67. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCES: Mumbai/London
Brothers have been busy
restructuring their debt-laden Essar
Group, a $27 billion (revenue) steel-
to-shipping conglomerate. They took
Mumbai-listed Essar Oil private in
preparation for a 49 percent-stake
sale in the company to Russian
oil-producer Rosneft. The $2.8
billion deal (excluding debt) is yet
to be concluded. In February, they
sold an office complex in Mumbai’s
financial district for $350 million to
a Bengaluru developer. The Ruias
are said to be looking for a buyer
for their outsourcing unit Aegis.
17.  Bajaj faMily
$5.7 BILLION 
SOURCE: Motorcycles
RESIDENCES: Pune/Mumbai
Clan that controls the 90-year-old
Bajaj Group saw its wealth increase
by $1.3 billion, partly from the 70
percent rise in shares of financial-
services arm Bajaj Finserv. The
group’s financial-services business
is overseen by Sanjiv Bajaj, younger
son of chairman Rahul Bajaj, 77, who
shares fortune with cousins Shekhar,
Madhur and Niraj. Motorcycle
maker Bajaj Auto, run by patriarch’s
older son Rajiv, introduced the
V15, a 150 cc motorcycle partly
made with metal from INS
Vikrant, India’s first aircraft
carrier. The company has begun
exporting Qute, a new four-wheel
“quadricycle” but is awaiting court
approval to introduce it in India.
 coming
back
18.  SuBhaSh Chandra
$5.6 BILLION 
SOURCE: Media
AGE: 65. Married, 3 Children Tulsi TanTi

Second Wind
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Media magnate’s Zee Entertainment
Enterprises, flagship of his Essel
Group and run by sons Punit and
Amit, sold its Ten Sports Network
to Sony Pictures for $385 million in
August. The television broadcaster’s
array of 75 channels reaches more
than 1 billion viewers in 171 countries.
Zee’s presence in Southeast Asia
covers Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore and the Philippines.
Essel’s infrastructure unit has a
joint venture with China’s Golden
Concord Holdings for a $2 billion
solar-equipment project in Andhra
Pradesh. He was recently elected
as an MP.

• Chandra’s autobiography, The

Z Factor—My Journey as the
Wrong Man at the Right Time,
was published this year
19.  Savitri jindal
$5.3 BILLION 
SOURCE: Steel, Power
AGE: 66. Widow, 9 Children
RESIDENCES: Hisar/Delhi
After declining last year, fortune of
steel and power clan, whose matriarch
chairs the OP Jindal Group, rose
as steel prices recovered. Mumbai-
based son Sajjan saw shares of his
JSW Steel almost double in the past
year. In May, he agreed to acquire a
1,000-megawatt thermal power unit
for $750 million from his struggling
younger sibling Naveen’s Jindal
Power & Steel, which is weighed
down by $3.6 billion in debt.
20.  deSh Bandhu Gupta
$5.1 BILLION 
i
n 2007, Tulsi Tanti, the founder
of Suzlon Energy, was the tenth-
richest person in the country,
with a $10 billion fortune. Back then,
Suzlon was the world’s most valuable
wind-turbine maker, and Tanti, who
had just won a hotly contested bid to
acquire German rival Repower for $2
billion, was out to conquer the world.
Soon enough Tanti was battling
headwinds as reports of quality
problems with Suzlon’s big blades
battered the stock and hurt sales.
Tanti’s debt-fuelled expansion made
Suzlon infamous as the country’s
largest defaulter on foreign-currency
loans. In 2012, India’s wind man fell
from the ranks of India’s richest,
and he hasn’t made the cut since.
Suzlon began a turnaround last
year when it sold Repower (since
renamed Senvion) for $1.1 billion.
The proceeds were deployed to prune
to build wind farms and eventually
sell them to foreign investors looking
for a renewable-energy play.
The winds of fortune have shifted
in Suzlon’s favour. The Modi-led
government’s target for renewable
energy—both wind and solar—is 175
GW by 2022. Tanti has latched on to
what he calls a “hybrid model” under
which he will build combined wind-
and solar-power projects. “Suzlon’s
greatest advantage was that they were
a first mover in wind,” says Kanika
Chawla, senior programme lead at
the Council of Energy, Environment
& Water, a non-profit policy research
institute in Delhi. “Their international
expansion plans backfired, but what’s
helped them is that they’ve burrowed
deep and focussed on the Indian
market. The domestic market opening
up has been a saviour for Suzlon.”
In March, Suzlon reported its first
photographs: amit Verma

SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 78. Married, 5 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Founder of generics champ Lupin,
run by daughter Vinita and son
Nilesh, is poorer by $800 million
as the company’s shares fell partly
on an adverse report on one of its
the company’s $2.8 billion debt. In
another crucial move, Tanti was able
to attract a white knight: Pharma
billionaire Dilip Shanghvi bought a 20
percent stake for $290 million, though
he plays no role in the company.
Shanghvi also committed $65 million
to a separate joint venture with Tanti
annual profits in seven years. Tanti’s
aim: To recapture the 50 percent share
of the Indian market he once owned;
Suzlon now has a 36 percent share. As
for regaining rank-worthy wealth—his
is now likely under $200 million—
he will need a serious tailwind.
—megha bahree

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 27

The 100 richesT indians
factories by the US FDA. Bullish on
Japan, Lupin agreed in August to buy
21 generic drugs from Osaka-based
Shionogi for $150 million. Vinita and
Nilesh jointly won the Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2015.
21.  viKraM lal
$5 BILLION 
SOURCE: Motorcycles
AGE: 74. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Record sales of the iconic Royal
Enfield motorbike kept shares
of his Eicher Motors aloft. The
company sold more than 500,000
bikes in the year ended March 2016,
a 50 percent jump over the previous
year. It also launched its much-
anticipated Himalayan adventure
bike in March. Son Siddhartha, who
runs Eicher, relocated to London
last year to oversee the company’s
global expansion; the first US store
recently opened in Milwaukee, the
home of rival Harley-Davidson. In
May, the family sold 4.2 percent
of its stake in Eicher, but it still
retains close to 51 percent.
22.  KuShal pal SinGh
$4.8 BILLION 
SOURCE: Real Estate
AGE: 85. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Despite a sluggish property
market, property baron’s
DLF saw its shares rise on
news that he plans to sell his
40 percent stake in valuable
rental arm DLF Cyber City
Developers to institutional
investors and use the proceeds
to pare down DLF’s $3.3 billion
debt. Blackstone Group, Abu
Dhabi Investment Authority
and GIC of Singapore are
believed to be among the
bidders. In April, DLF opened
its 2-million-square-foot
Mall of India near Delhi.
Up down Unchanged new to list
28 | forbes india december 21, 2016
23.  panKaj patel
$4.5 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 63. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Ahmedabad
Pharmacy grad’s generics outfit
Cadila Healthcare was taken
to court by Swiss giant Roche
for selling a clone of its popular
breast cancer drug Herceptin in
India. Cadila said it had secured
regulatory approval. Its shares,
which suffered a hit earlier when
it received a warning from the US
FDA for violating manufacturing
standards at one its factories,
recovered after a positive
report by the health regulator.
In June, Cadila acquired two
drugs in the pipeline from Teva
Pharmaceutical’s US portfolio.
24.  MiCKy jaGtiani
$4.4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Retail
AGE: 65. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Dubai
Middle East retailing giant
Landmark Group, which he
retUrnee
founded and chairs, suspended
sales of all Trump-branded
products last December after
the US presidential candidate
made anti-Muslim remarks. With
estimated revenue of $6 billion,
Landmark, which his wife Renuka
helps him run, has more than 2,400
stores spread across the Middle
East, Africa and India.
It recently inked an agreement to
open new stores with Abu Dhabi’s
upcoming Reem Mall and also
with Oman’s Muscat Grand Mall.
25.  Ma yuSuff ali
$4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Retail
AGE: 60. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Abu Dhabi
Middle East retail king presides
over $6.3 billion (revenue) LuLu
Group, with 129 stores in the Gulf
region, India, Egypt, Indonesia
and Malaysia. New projects
include a $300 million investment
in Thiruvananthapuram that
will include a mall, hotel and
convention centre. The group’s
hospitality arm owns Dubai’s first
Steigenberger hotel, a German
luxury hotel brand and a 50
percent stake in the Sheraton
hotel in Muscat, which will reopen
later this year after renovations.
26.  MadhuKar pareKh
$3.9 BILLION 
SOURCE: Adhesives
AGE: 70. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Chairman of Pidilite Industries,
founded by his late father Balvant
Parekh in 1954, benefited from an
uptick in Pidilite shares on rising
profits due to lower raw material
costs. The company, now run by
a professional CEO, gets more
than half its $811 million revenue
from adhesives and sealants but
is best known for its white glue
Fevicol. In April, it formed a joint
venture with an Italian company
to make wood finishes. Four family
members work at the company.
27.  Sudhir & SaMir Mehta
$3.85 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals, Energy
AGE: 62. Married, 2 Children
AGE: 53. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Ahmedabad
Brothers get bulk of wealth from
listed pharma outfit Torrent
Pharmaceuticals, a 57-year-old
company founded by their late
father, who started out as a pharma
salesman. The firm gets 40 percent
of its $1 billion revenue from the US
and about a third from India. Their
Torrent Power, overseen by older
brother Sudhir, distributes electricity
to more than 3 million customers
in their home state of Gujarat, plus
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
28.  Kuldip &
GurBaChan SinGh dhinGra
$3.7 BILLION 
SOURCE: Paint
AGE: 69. Married, 3 Children
AGE: 66. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Brothers saw their wealth surge as
their Kolkata-headquartered Berger
Paints India, the country’s second-
largest paint maker, in which they
hold 75 percent, reported a 55 percent
jump in net profit for a recent quarter.
Berger is banking on rising demand
in the Northeast, where it is building
new factories. In June, the company
transferred its automotive-paints
business to BNB Coatings India, a joint
venture with Japan’s Nippon Paint.
30.  harSh Mariwala
$3.64 BILLION 
SOURCE: Consumer goods
AGE: 65. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Shares of consumer-goods outfit
Marico, which he chairs, got a lift
when it reported a 26 percent rise in
net earnings to $109 million in the
year ended March. The company,
which sells in 25 countries and aspires
to be an Indian multinational, cut
the price of its popular Parachute
coconut hair oil, a category in which it
competes with Anand Burman’s (No
15) Dabur. Sharrp Ventures, his family
29.  pawan Munjal
$3.65 BILLION 
SOURCE: Motorcycles
AGE: 62. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Son of the late Brijmohan Lall Munjal, founder of Hero Group, who died
last year at the age of 92, takes his father’s spot in the ranks. He runs
motorcycle flagship Hero MotoCorp, a former partner of Japan’s Honda
and the world’s largest producer of two-wheelers by volume. It has sold
65 million units to date, of which more than 6.6 million were sold in the
year ended March 2016. Pawan has led a global expansion after parting
ways with Honda five years ago. Hero opened its first overseas factory in
Colombia last year and has a second one coming up in Bangladesh. He has
also invested $126 million in a new research unit in Jaipur that employs 500
engineers. The fortune includes shares held by older brother Suman and
late brother Raman’s family. In what was seen as a family divide, younger
sibling Sunil stepped down as Hero’s joint managing director in August to
run his own independent businesses. (Brijmohan Lall Munjal obit, page 158)
office, is looked after by son Rishabh. fillip to its shares. Japanese partner
Mariwala, who shares wealth with his Sumitomo owns more than a fourth
uncle and cousins, is writing a book of Motherson Sumi, which has 145
about his business career that is due factories in 25 countries and gets 85
out next year. percent of its $5.7 billion revenue
from overseas. He started the group in
• One in every 10 coconuts grown 1975 as a trading outfit along with his
in India is used by Marico mother, hence the name Motherson.
31.  viveK Chaand SehGal 32.  anil aMBani
$3.6 BILLION  $3.4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Auto Parts SOURCE: Diversified
photographs: amit Verma
AGE: 59. Married, 2 Children AGE: 57. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Co-founder of the $7.2 billion Younger Ambani sibling orchestrated
(revenue) Samvardhana Motherson the merger of his Reliance
Group got boost as profits at auto- Communications’ telecom business
components flagship Motherson with that of rival Aircel, controlled
Sumi Systems rose by 38 percent in by Malaysian billionaire Ananda
the year ended March 2016, giving a Krishnan, to form what will be the
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 29
The 100 richesT indians
country’s fourth-largest mobile
phone operator once the merger,
which requires regulatory approvals,
is completed. He’s also betting on
the defence sector with a new joint
venture between his Reliance Defence
and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense
Systems to manufacture air-to-air
missiles. Son Anmol, who works at
Reliance Capital, was appointed to
that company’s board in August.
33.  Kapil & rahul Bhatia
$3.35 BILLION 
SOURCE: Airlines
AGE: 84. Married, 2 Children
AGE: 56. Married, 2 children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Father and son’s wealth was
propelled by the November listing
of their InterGlobe Aviation,
which owns IndiGo, India’s largest
and most profitable airline, with a
market share of 40 percent. Fare
wars took a toll on the budget
carrier’s net profit, which declined
by 7 percent to $89 million in a
recent quarter. The airline took
delivery of its first new Airbus
A320neo aircraft in March but may
delay further inductions pending
an upgrade to their engines. The
Bhatias are mulling a public listing
of their travel commerce firm
InterGlobe Technology Quotient.
rahul bhatia
30 | forbes india december 21, 2016
34.  aShwin dani
$3.3 BILLION 
SOURCE: Paint
AGE: 73. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Non-executive vice chairman of $2.3
billion (revenue) Asian Paints added
more than $1 billion to his wealth
as the company’s shares touched
a high in July when it reported
double-digit growth in quarterly
revenue and net profit. The paint
maker said it benefited from lower
raw material costs and growing
sales in Fiji, Nepal and the UAE.
35.  ajay piraMal
$3.25 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 61. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
His fortune has jumped by more
than 80 percent as shares of flagship
Piramal Enterprises soared in the
past year, buoyed partly by the news
of a restructuring that will involve the
financial-services business being spun
off and listed separately. Piramal has a
board seat at Tata Sons, holding outfit
of the Tata conglomerate, in which
fellow billionaire Pallonji Mistry (No
5) has a stake. (See story, page 104)
36.  jain faMily
$3.2 BILLION 
SOURCE: Media
RESIDENCE: Delhi/Mumbai
Family behind media powerhouse
Bennett, Coleman & Co, which is
chaired by matriarch Indu Jain and
run by sons Samir and Vineet. It is
best known for its daily newspaper
The Times of India, the world’s
largest daily newspaper by circulation;
The Economic Times, the world’s
biggest financial newspaper after
the Wall Street Journal; and news
channel Times Now. In June, the
group formed a joint venture with US-
based Vice Media to produce digital,
mobile and TV content for the Indian
market. In August, its new Bennett
University, which collaborates
with US-based Babson College and
Georgia Institute of Technology, was
inaugurated by the chief minister of
Uttar Pradesh, where it is located.
• Indu Jain was honoured with
the Padma Bhushan, one of the
nation’s highest civilian awards
37.  pv raMpraSad reddy
$3.15 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 58. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Hyderabad
His Aurobindo Pharma, which
gets 85 percent of its $2.1 billion
revenue from international markets,
saw its shares fall in February after
a US FDA inspection resulted in
adverse observations about one of its
factories that makes antiretroviral
drugs. The company responded to
the FDA’s concerns and subsequently
got an approval from the American
regulator. The stock got a boost after
the company reported rising profits
in a recent quarter on higher sales.
Aurobindo was among the two short-
listed bidders for Israeli firm Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries’ portfolio of
drugs in the UK, Ireland and Iceland.
38.  ravi pillai
$3.1 BILLION 
SOURCE: Construction
AGE: 63. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Bahrain
Middle East construction magnate’s
$5.3 billion (revenue) RP Group
expanded into Kuwait last year
after securing three projects from
the Kuwait National Petroleum. In
August, he pledged to employ 3,000
Indians from the thousands who had
lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia due to
an economic slowdown. Other assets
include hotels in Dubai and his native
Kerala state.
• His daughter’s four-day wedding
gala last November had 60,000 guests
39.  vijay Chauhan
$3 BILLION 
SOURCE: Biscuits & Confectionery
AGE: 80.
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Patriarch of family that controls Parle
Products, best known for its popular
biscuit, Parle G. The privately held
biscuit, confectionery and snacks
maker gets 80 percent of its estimated
$1.3 billion revenues from biscuits.
The Chauhans’ recent decision to shut
down Parle’s 87-year-old factory in
Vile Parle, a Mumbai suburb for which
the company was named, created a
furore on social media. Parle made an
announcement on Facebook that the
move would not impact availability
of its products, as it has numerous
factories across the country.
40.  Kalanithi Maran
$2.9 BILLION 
SOURCE: Media
AGE: 51. Married, 1 Child
RESIDENCE: Chennai
Media baron’s Sun TV Network’s
shares fell in May after state elections
resulted in a defeat for the political
party led by his granduncle but have
since recovered. Maran, who sold his
controlling stake in budget airline
SpiceJet last year, took the buyer to
court for allegedly delaying the issue
of warrants that he was supposed to
get as part of the deal. The buyer said
regulatory approval had not been
received for issuing the warrants.
Maran and his politician brother,
Dayanidhi, are embroiled in a telecom
corruption case being investigated by
the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Marans have denied all charges.
Despite these legal troubles, Sun TV is
eyeing expansion; it tied up with US-
based YuppTV to launch its channels
in West Asia and North Africa.
41.  Murali divi
$2.8 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 65. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Hyderabad
Generics maker Divis Laboratories,
which he founded 26 years ago,
Andhra Pradesh has faced opposition
from local shrimp hatcheries for
fear that it may contaminate the
sea water. The company says the
concerns are unfounded as effluents
will be treated before being released.
42.  SaMprada SinGh
$2.7 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 90. Widower, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Pharma magnate who founded
Alkem Laboratories more than
four decades ago took the company
public last December. Shares of the
generics maker are up by more than
50 percent since the IPO. For the year
to March 2016, Alkem reported a 72
percent jump in net earnings to $100
million on revenue of $745 million.
Cousin Basudeo Narain Singh runs
Alkem as its executive chairman.
43.  aShwin ChoKSi
$2.65 BILLION 
SOURCE: Paint
AGE: 73. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Son of one of 4 co-founders of
44.  yuSuf haMied
$2.6 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 80. Married
RESIDENCE: Mumbai/London
Wealth of non-executive chairman of
$2 billion (revenue) generics maker
Cipla took a hit as a cut in drug
prices by the government impacted
domestic revenue, causing shares to
fall. The company appointed a new
CEO and named Hamied’s niece
Samina Vaziralli as executive vice
chairman in September. Cipla is
expanding overseas, notably in South
Africa, where a new $90 million
Asian Paints and the company’s
non-executive chairman. Fortune,
which he shares with family, is up on
share gains. The company, run by a
professional CEO, is adding capacity
in anticipation of a spurt in domestic
demand as economic growth picks up.
45.  rajan raheja
$2.55 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 62. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Shares of tycoon’s Exide Industries
regained momentum as a growing
auto market increased demand for
its automotive batteries, a sector in
which it enjoys market leadership.
The company is ramping up capacity
with plans to spend $210 million.
Cable television unit Hathway Cable
& Datacom announced the IPO of its
subsidiary GTPL Hathway, a cable TV
and broadband-services provider.
46.  vinod & anil rai Gupta
$2.52 BILLION 
SOURCE: Electrical fittings
AGE: 71. Widow, 3 Children
AGE: 47. Married, 2 Children
photographs: amit Verma

reported close to a one-third jump plant to make biosimilar drugs will

in net earnings to $166 million on
revenue of $580 million in the year
ended March 2016. The company’s
factory in South India was successfully
inspected by the US FDA in February,
but its plan to build a new unit to make
pharma ingredients near the coast in
be built in Durban. Cipla is also
one of a group of companies that
successfully bid for drugs divested
by Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical.
Up down Unchanged new to list retUrnee

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 31

The 100 richesT indians
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Buoyant sales of lighting and
electrical fixtures boosted shares
of Havells, founded by Vinod
Gupta’s late husband and run
by youngest son Anil Rai Gupta,
who is listed with her this year.
Havells sold its 80 percent stake
in troubled European light
manufacturer Sylvania in December
for $160 million to Shanghai Feilo
Acoustics. Havells has recently
started selling home-automation
products and solar streetlights.
47.  Br Shetty
$2.51 BILLION 
SOURCE: Health Care
AGE: 74. Married, 4 Children
RESIDENCE: Abu Dhabi
Former pharma salesman’s hospital
chain NMC Healthcare entered
Saudi Arabia in August by acquiring
two hospitals and is negotiating to
buy Sunshine Hospital in Hyderabad.
Shetty plans to invest $1.8 billion
with the Andhra Pradesh state
government for projects in health
care, hospitality and education.
48.  aCharya BalKriShna
$2.5 BILLION 
SOURCE: Consumer goods
AGE: 44. Single
RESIDENCE: Haridwar
Childhood friend of politically well-
connected yoga guru Baba Ramdev
makes debut thanks to his 97 percent
holding in fast-growing consumer goods
outfit Patanjali Ayurved, which they
co-founded in 2006. With revenue of
$780 million, Patanjali sells everything
from herbal toothpastes and cosmetics
to noodles and jams. Though Ramdev
holds no shares in Patanjali, he is the
company’s de facto brand ambassador,
while Balkrishna runs operations. Among
much else, Balkrishna also oversees 5,000
Patanjali clinics, the Patanjali University
and a yoga and ayurveda research
institute. He says Patanjali’s profits are
donated to various trusts and charities.
Up down Unchanged new to list
32 | forbes india december 21, 2016
49.  aBhay vaKil
$2.45 BILLION 
SOURCE: Paint
AGE: 65. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Non-executive director of Asian
Paints has been with the company,
which was co-founded by his
father, for more than four decades.
Shares wealth, derived from
stake in company, with family.
50.  Chandru raheja
$2.4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Real Estate
AGE: 76. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Real estate magnate’s privately held
K Raheja Corp, run by sons Ravi and
Neel, is mulling selling a minority
stake in its commercial-property unit
Mindspace, to raise $300 million.
This will be followed by a REIT
listing of these assets. The developer,
known for its IT parks, has bought
a 62-acre plot for $53 million in the
Navi Mumbai area. Other assets
include hotels, malls and department
store chain Shoppers Stop.
retUrnee
51.  BaBa Kalyani
$2.25 BILLION 
SOURCE: Forgings
AGE: 67. Married, 1 Child
RESIDENCE: Pune
His auto parts maker Bharat Forge,
which son Amit helps him run,
suffered a drop in revenue and net
profit in a recent quarter due to
declining exports. Kalyani attributed
the fall to a weak truck market in
North America. The tycoon’s bet on
the defence sector is taking shape:
Later this year, Bharat Forge will
be testing three howitzer guns it
has developed. The company has
collaborated with Tata Motors and
US-based General Dynamics to bid on
a $7.5 billion project to build infantry
combat vehicles for the Indian army.
52.  KarSanBhai patel
$2.24 BILLION 
SOURCE: detergents
AGE: 72. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Ahmedabad
Low-profile detergent king, who
delisted his company, Nirma, in
2012, returns to the list after a
four-year absence as a result of new
information about the company’s
financial performance. Led by son
Hiren, Nirma is expanding its cement
business. In July, the company beat
bidders such as Ajay Piramal and
the Jindal family’s JSW Cement to
buy French cement major Lafarge’s
India operations for $1.4 billion.
53.  raKeSh jhunjhunwala
$2.2 BILLION 
SOURCE: Investments
AGE: 56. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Outspoken investor with a Midas
touch sent shares of Aptech soaring
when he raised his stake in the IT
training firm. He recently urged the
management of Jaguar carmaker
Tata Motors, in which he owns a
stake, to improve disclosure on its
hedging practices. He calls himself
an old-fashioned investor and
is known to shun startups with
high valuations but no profits.
54.  reddy faMily
$2.15 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
RESIDENCE: Hyderabad
Fortune linked to India’s second-
largest drug maker, Dr Reddy’s
Laboratories, which is shared by the
late founder K Anji Reddy’s son Satish
Reddy and son-in-law GV Prasad,
took a hit after a US FDA inspection
of three of its factories resulted
in warnings from the regulator in
November. The company, which
gets more than 50 percent of its $2.3
billion in revenue from the US, has
spent $36 million so far on fixing the
problems. It has also been beefing
up its portfolio with acquisitions: It
bought six over-the-counter brands
from US drugmaker Ducere Pharma
and completed the acquisition of
eight pipeline drugs from Teva
Pharmaceuticals Industries and an
affiliate of Ireland-based Allergan.
55.  aMalGaMationS
Group faMily
$2.1 BILLION 
SOURCE: Tractors
RESIDENCE: Chennai
Storied South Indian family, best
known for tractor manufacturer
Tractors & Farm Equipment
(TAFE) and diesel engine maker
Simpson & Co, are descendants of the
late founder S Anantharamakrishnan.
The group, an agglomeration of
40 companies, is chaired by the
founder’s son A Krishnamoorthy.
TAFE, run by his niece Mallika
Srinivasan, counts US agri-equipment
maker AGCO as its partner. She also
sits on the boards of AGCO, Tata
Steel and Tata Global Beverages.
56.  ManGal praBhat
lodha
$2.05 BILLION 
was recently downgraded by ratings
firms Moody’s and Fitch, partly
due to its rising debt. Recently it
completed the first 60-storey tower
of its landmark World Towers project
in midtown Mumbai, billed as the
world’s tallest residence. Unfazed
by Brexit, Lodha has started sales of
its luxury apartments in London at
Grosvenor Square and Lincoln Square.
57.  Sunil vaSwani
$2 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 53. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Dubai
Tycoon’s Dubai-headquartered
Stallion Group, named after his
favourite animal, gets the bulk of
its $3.7 billion in revenue from
Africa. Businesses span commodities
trading, frozen foods, auto assembly
and dealerships, including Nissan,
Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.
A British and Nigerian citizen,
Vaswani was born in India, grew
up in Nigeria and went to college
in London. He lives in Dubai’s
tony Emirates Hills in an opulent
mansion, which includes an
indoor aviary, a nightclub, an
automatic car wash and a casino.
58.  rajendra aGarwal
$1.95 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Medical doctor whose family owned a
pharmacy in Jaipur, set up Macleods
Pharmaceuticals 30 years ago to
make anti-TB medicines and built
it into the country’s sixth largest
pharma outfit. Macleods was in the
news earlier this year when an MP
alleged that it had bribed doctors
to prescribe its drugs. The firm
denied any wrongdoing and said the
allegations were baseless. No charges
59.  MG GeorGe Muthoot
$1.92 BILLION 
SOURCE: Financial Services
AGE: 66. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
In the past 12 months, rising gold
prices more than doubled the shares
of Muthoot Finance, listed flagship
of his Muthoot Group, returning him
60.  Sunny varKey
$1.9 BILLION 
SOURCE: Education
AGE: 59. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Dubai
His GEMS Education, the world’s
largest operator of K–12 schools
with 89 worldwide, offered shares
to its teachers in a bid to deter rivals
from poaching them. The private
education firm, which counts
the Blackstone Group among its
investors, borrowed $250 million
in April to fund expansion in its
Middle East stronghold. Varkey
is well connected: Former US
president Bill Clinton was honorary
chairman of non-profit arm
Varkey Foundation until 2015 and
reportedly received $5.6 million
in consultancy fees from GEMS.
photographs: amit Verma

SOURCE: Real Estate were filed. Macleods voluntarily

AGE: 60. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Property magnate’s privately held
Lodha Group, run by sons Abhishek
and Abhinandan, is building a
75-storey Trump Tower in Mumbai, to
be completed by 2018. The company
recalled a drug to treat Parkinson’s
disease from the US market due to
quality issues. Agarwal’s older brother
Girdhari Lal Bawri is chairman
and younger brother Banwari Lal
Bawri is joint managing director.

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 33

The 100 richesT indians
to the top 100 ranks. With his three
brothers, he runs India’s leading
lender against gold, founded by his
grandfather in 1887. Muthoot Finance
has more than 4,200 retail branches
and six million customers. It was
recently investigated by the income
tax authorities. The company said it
was a routine check and that Muthoot
Finance was the top corporate
taxpayer in its home state of Kerala.
• Enjoys listening to Carnatic music
61.  rajeSh Mehta
$1.88 BILLION 
SOURCE: Jewellery
AGE: 52. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Runs gold-jewellery exporter
Rajesh Exports, which straddles the
entire value chain from mining to
refining to retailing. With a refining
capacity of 2,400 tonnes annually,
it is the biggest gold processor in
the world. The company reported
a threefold jump in revenue to $25
billion in the past year, buoyed by
last year’s acquisition of Swiss gold
refinery Valcambi for $400 million.
Shares his wealth, which includes
stakes in African gold mines, with
three brothers. (See story, page 128)
• Mehta is a fan of Bollywood music
62.  nr narayana Murthy
$1.87 BILLION 
SOURCE: Software Services
AGE: 70. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Legendary co-founder of Infosys
gets wealth from a minority stake in
the firm from which he retired after
installing a former SAP executive
as the company’s first non-founder
CEO. His private investment firm,
Catamaran Ventures, has formed an
insurance brokerage joint venture
with British broker Aon. The Infosys
Foundation, overseen by wife Sudha,
is setting up the Infosys Institute of
Robotic Surgery in Bengaluru with
health care firm Narayana Health.
Up down Unchanged new to list
34 | forbes india december 21, 2016
(See story, page 134)
• Murthy recently disclosed that Azim
Premji once interviewed him for a
job at Wipro—and he was rejected
63.  anil aGarwal
$1.86 BILLION 
SOURCE: Metals
AGE: 63. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: London
Metals magnate, who controls
London-listed Vedanta Resources,
completed the merger between
Vedanta’s debt-laden Indian unit
and cash-rich oil-and-gas firm Cairn
India after sweetening the terms
for minority investors. Agarwal’s
longstanding plan to acquire from
the government the remaining
30 percent stake in Hindustan
Zinc that he doesn’t own faced a
setback when the Supreme Court
blocked the sale. His listed Sterlite
Technologies hived off its power
transmission business into a separate
company with a view to listing an
infrastructure investment trust.
64.  Mannalal aGrawal
$1.85 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 69. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Co-founder of Ajanta
Pharmaceuticals, which he controls
with his two siblings, gained as the
company’s shares jumped by 40
percent in the past year on rising
sales in India and Africa, its biggest
market. The generics maker, which
has a presence in more than 30
countries in Asia and Africa, is slowly
establishing a foothold in the US.
The $260 million (revenue) firm
has invested $60 million in a new
formulations plant in Guwahati in
northeastern India. US-educated sons,
Yogesh and Rajesh, run the company.
66.  haSMuKh ChudGar
$1.8 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 83. Married, 3 Children
Returns to the list on rising sales and
retUrnee
profits at his privately held Intas
Pharmaceuticals, in which Temasek
and ChrysCapital are investors. The
company, run by sons Nimish and
Binish, was in the news recently for
65.  Kiran
MazuMdar-Shaw
$1.83 BILLION 
SOURCE: Biopharmaceuticals
AGE: 63. Married
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Biotech pioneer’s wealth climbed
along with shares of her listed
Biocon, which have more than
doubled in the past year. The
company, Asia’s largest insulin
producer, is aiming for a 10 percent
share of the global market. In July,
it launched a disposable insulin pen
in Japan with partner FUJIFILM
Pharma, while in August, biosimilar
drugs to treat certain cancers,
co-developed with US-based
Mylan, were accepted by European
regulators for review; news of these
milestones lifted the stock. Shares
of contract research arm Syngene
are up by 92 percent since its IPO
in August 2015. (See story, page 94)
• Mazumdar-Shaw was recently
awarded the Chevalier de
l’Ordre National de la Légion
d’Honneur, France’s highest
civilian honour, for her outstanding
contribution to bioscience
 people
to
its $764 million acquisition of Teva watch
Pharmaceutical’s generics business
in the UK and Ireland. The $1 billion
(revenues) Intas is awaiting regulatory

On the Rise
approval to launch a biosimilar version
of an Amgen blockbuster cancer
drug that boosts white blood cells.

67.  Mofatraj Munot
$1.79 BILLION 
SOURCE: Real Estate
AGE: 71. Widower, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Developer’s Kalpataru, run
by son Parag, is focusing on its
11.2-million-square-foot township
in suburban Mumbai, which will
be a mix of residences, offices and
retail spaces. The privately held
firm has also started work on four
residential redevelopment projects.
Engineering contractor Kalpataru
Power Transmission, which builds
electricity transmission towers
in more than 21 countries and is
Munot’s only listed asset, is flush
with orders exceeding $1.2 billion.
68.  laChhMan daS Mittal
$1.78 BILLION 
SOURCE: Tractors
AGE: 85. Married, 5 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
His privately held Sonalika Group,
India’s third-largest tractor maker,
is mulling listing its International
Tractors unit, which is backed
by Blackstone Group and Japan’s
Yanmar. Weaker domestic demand
for its Sonalika tractors was partially
offset by higher exports. The company,
run by his sons and grandsons, has
started selling in the US and is due
to open an assembly unit in Iran.
69.  Glenn Saldanha
$1.77 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
s
ome of India’s
more celebrated
entrepreneurs
have yet to reach the
richest 100 threshold.
Here are five looming
in the wings.
Radhika (right) &
Sandeep Aggarwal,
41, 43, returned from
the Silicon Valley
in 2011 to start an
ecommerce venture
with a friend to sell
low-cost, unbranded
goods to small-
town India. Their
ShopClues.com
achieved unicorn
status after a January
funding round valued
the online marketplace
at $1.1 billion and the surgeon who believes in the
couple’s estimated 20 percent stake “Walmartisation” of health care, took
at $220 million. Radhika is chief his hospital chain Narayana Health
business officer while Sandeep runs public last December. Shares of the
Droom, an online seller of used cars Bengaluru-headquartered health
that he founded two years ago. care provider are up by 29 percent
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, 38, since. Shetty’s 65 percent stake,
is the founder of fast-growing, held together with his wife, is worth
Alibaba- backed mobile wallet more than $600 million. Narayana
Paytm, an acronym for “Pay Through has 24 hospitals, including one in
Mobile”, with 139 million users and the Cayman Islands, treating more
three million transactions daily. than two million patients annually.
Son of a school teacher, Sharma Bhavish Aggarwal, 31, co-
latched on to mobile payments in founder and CEO of Ola, India’s most
2011. A recent funding round by popular cab-hailing app with a fleet
Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek of 450,000 vehicles in 102 cities.
photographs: amit Verma

AGE: 45. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Pharmacist’s listed Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals, which he controls
with his family, has been buffeted
by currency depreciation and saw
revenue from emerging markets
(excluding India) decline by 22
reportedly values Paytm at $4.8
billion, making Sharma, with his 21
percent stake, a billionaire. Sharma
is spinning off Paytm’s ecommerce
business into a separate company
and will be starting a niche bank.
Devi Prasad Shetty, 63, a UK-
trained, award-winning cardiac
Aggarwal quit Microsoft to start Ola
in 2011 with a college pal. The Uber
rival has raised close to $1 billion from
investors such as Japan’s SoftBank
and China’s Didi Chuxing. Avid
photographer Aggarwal’s estimated 15
percent holding is worth $750 million.
—nk

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 35

The 100 richesT indians
percent. The company derives 60
percent of its $1.2 billion in annual
revenue from India and the US. Last
year, it received approvals to sell 19
generic drugs in the US, the most it
has ever received in a year. Glenmark
has four drugs in clinical trials, two
of them in phase two. Investors
include Singapore’s Temasek.
70.  aBhay firodia
$1.76 BILLION 
SOURCE: Automobiles
AGE: 71. Married, 4 Children
RESIDENCE: Pune
Chairman of Force Motors, run by
son Prasan, has opened three new
factories in the past year, including
one to make engines and axles for
Mercedes-Benz. His privately held
Jaya Hind Industries, which has a
joint venture with French auto parts
maker Montupet, supplies cylinder
heads to Ford from a new factory
in Madhya Pradesh. His holdings
71.  nirav Modi
$1.74 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diamond Jewellery
AGE: 45. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Diamond jewellery designer
is reportedly mulling an IPO
of his $1.8 billion (revenue)
Firestar Diamond. Meantime,
he’s expanded the high street
presence of his eponymous brand
by adding two more boutiques,
in London and Macau, bringing
the total to eight. He’s aiming
for 30 boutiques in a dozen
countries by 2020. Modi’s ultra-
rich and celebrity clients include
Hollywood actress Kate Winslet,
who wore his jewels at the Oscar
ceremony this year.
• The diamantaire celebrated
five years of his brand and
his wife Ami’s 40th birthday
in March with a gala held in
a Jodhpur palace hotel
Up down Unchanged new to list
36 | forbes india december 21, 2016
include stakes in companies of
the Bajaj family (No 17), which
has seen their shares surge of
late. (See story, page 140)
72.  raMeSh juneja
$1.72 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 63. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
His privately held Mankind
Pharma, which he owns and runs
with younger brother Rajeev,
is a low-cost generics champion
generating most of its $600
million in revenue in India.
To rev up sales, the company is
expanding overseas, targeting
the US market, where it plans to
set up a factory. Juneja’s UK-
educated son Arjun is leading the
international drive.
• The brothers were born on
the same day, 10 years apart
retUrnee
73.  MuruGappa faMily
$1.7 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
RESIDENCE: Chennai
Clan behind the 116-year-old
Murugappa Group, a conglomerate of
28 companies with combined annual
revenue of $4.5 billion, returns to
the 100 richest on share gains at all
its companies after dropping off last
year. Sugar outfit EID Parry saw
shares double on rising sugar prices
while abrasives maker Carborundum
Universal recorded a 72 percent surge
on a jump in sales and profitability. TI
Cycles, a leading maker of bicycles in
India, has opened a factory in Punjab
to cater to the northern and eastern
markets. Murugappa chairman A
Vellayan, who stepped down in
May 2015 after being charged with
insider trading by market regulator
Sebi, was reappointed five months
later. This May, Sebi dismissed the
case but said it may reinvestigate.
He has denied the charge.
74.  ranjan pai
$1.69 BILLION 
SOURCE: Education, Health Care
AGE: 43. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Medical doctor’s education and
health care empire Manipal Group
has six colleges, including four
overseas, in Malaysia, Antigua, Dubai
and Nepal, as well as 16 hospitals
with two more in the pipeline in
Delhi. He recently floated Neev, a
real estate investment fund, with
four partners, to invest in small
property developers in Bengaluru
and Mumbai. Also invested in new
finance company InCred, which
offers education loans, mortgages and
loans to small enterprises. Pai has
backed Saha, a venture capital fund
focussed on women entrepreneurs.
75.  harSh GoenKa
$1.67 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 58. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Fifth generation of storied business
clan, who chairs $3.1 billion
(revenue) RPG Group, a tyres-to-
technology conglomerate, is keen
to back startups and encourages
staff to become entrepreneurs.
The group’s pharma arm, RPG
LifeSciences, recently bought seven
drugs from Dilip Shanghvi’s (No 2)
Sun Pharmaceuticals. Tyremaker
Ceat, run by son Anant, is building
new factories in India and overseas.
76.  jitendra virwani
$1.66 BILLION 
SOURCE: Real Estate
AGE: 50. Married, 4 Children
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Fast-rising property baron’s
Embassy Property Development,
Bengaluru’s biggest developer of
office parks with partners such
as private equity firm Blackstone,
has moved into building industrial
parks and warehousing spaces
in a $250 million joint venture
with American private equity firm
Warburg Pincus. Embassy’s newest
project in its home city is Embassy
Springs, a 300-acre township
near Bengaluru airport. Next
up is probably a REIT listing of
Embassy’s office assets. Son Karan,
who works with him, is overseeing
a new venture in shared office
spaces.
• Virwani’s 50th-birthday bash
in February, held in his home,
drew more than 500 guests
77.  Salil SinGhal was started by her late father as
$1.65 BILLION  a joint venture with Revlon in
SOURCE: Agrochemicals 1961. USV specialises in diabetic
AGE: 69. Married, 3 Children and cardiovascular drugs, with
RESIDENCE: Delhi a portfolio that spans biosimilar
The promise of a good monsoon drugs and injectables and active
this year drove up shares of his pharmaceutical ingredients. Son
PI Industries, which makes plant Vilas, who founded a gaming outfit
protection and nutrient products. in Los Angeles, has a board seat.
The company, which also does custom
synthesis for global chemical majors,
has been run by his son Mayank
since 2009. It opened a research
centre in Udaipur in February. Shares
wealth with two brothers. They
also own calcite miner Wolkem.
78.  pnC Menon
$1.64 BILLION 
SOURCE: Real Estate
AGE: 67. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Dubai
Property developer, who hails from
Kerala, is expanding his Sobha
Group’s Middle East operations,
which span the UAE, Qatar, Oman
and other Gulf countries. In April,
he signed a joint venture with the
government of Umm al-Quwain
to develop the UAE’s least-known
emirate into a tourist hotspot.
The proposed $6.8 billion island
development will comprise seafront
villas, hotels, wellness resorts,
boutique stores and an 18-hole golf
course. Sobha is also building two 80.  nandan nileKani
projects totalling $13 billion in Dubai. $1.62 BILLION 
Listed Indian arm Sobha Developers SOURCE: Software Services
is run by son Ravi. AGE: 61. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
• He and his wife, Sobha, after Infosys co-founder recently
whom the group is named, signed teamed up with Ratan Tata, former
the Giving Pledge in June chairman of the Tata Group, to
start Avanti Finance, which will
79.  leena tewari provide microloans to the poor.
$1.63 BILLION  Nilekani, who is credited with
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals building Aadhaar, India’s identity
AGE: 59. Married, 2 Children card scheme, while chairman of
photographs: amit Verma

RESIDENCE: Mumbai the Unique Identity Authority

Media-shy heir of pharma fortune
chairs privately held USV India,
which is run by her husband,
Prashant, an Indian Institute of
Technology grad who studied
mechanical engineering at Cornell
University in the US. The company
of India, has backed several
startups, including auto parts
maker Sedemac Mechatronics,
whose founders studied at the
Indian Institute of Technology,
Bombay, his alma mater.

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 37

The 100 richesT indians
81.  S GopalaKriShnan
$1.61 BILLION 
SOURCE: Software Services
AGE: 61. Married, 1 Child
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Co-founder of Infosys is backing
startups after retiring from the
company two years ago. Has
invested in 25 companies through
his business incubator Axilor
Ventures. He has also funded and
created Itihaasa, a digital app that
chronicles the evolution of India’s
IT industry through, among much
else, interviews with industry
stalwarts such as Azim Premji (No
4) and fellow Infosys co-founder
NR Narayana Murthy (No 62).
82.  SatiSh Mehta
$1.6 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 65. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Pune
Pharma distributor’s son founded
and runs privately held Emcure
Pharmaceuticals. He started
the Pune-based generics maker
as a contract manufacturer for
multinationals in 1981. After more
than a decade, Mehta began marketing
and distributing his own branded
generics. Today close to 60 percent of
Up down Unchanged new to list
38 | forbes india december 21, 2016
Emcure’s revenue of $650 million is
generated overseas, mainly in North
America. Emcure, which counts
private equity firm Bain Capital as a
key investor, employs 11,000 people,
has nine factories and sells in 65
countries. Mehta’s two US-educated
children, son-in-law and nephew
work with him. Avid cricket fan.
83.  ravi jaipuria
$1.57 BILLION 
SOURCE: Soft Drinks
AGE: 61. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Cola king, who presides over $1.1
billion (revenue) drinks and foods
conglomerate RJ Corp, is aiming
for group revenue of $5 billion by
2020. He’s preparing to list his
flagship Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s
second-biggest bottler, which is
named after his son. Fast-food outfit
Devyani International has 500 retail
outlets for brands such as KFC,
Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee and TWG
Tea. Jaipuria also owns a minority
stake in health care firm Medanta.
84.  radhe ShyaM aGarwal
$1.56 BILLION 
SOURCE: Consumer Goods
AGE: 71. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Kolkata
84.  radhe ShyaM GoenKa
$1.56 BILLION 
SOURCE: Consumer Goods
AGE: 70. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Kolkata
Co-founders of consumer goods
flagship Emami, which saw its shares
drop amid sluggish demand in rural
markets. The $400 million (revenue)
company rolled out new products
like Emami 7 Oils in One, Fair and
Handsome instant fairness facewash
for men and Nityam laxative tablets.
Emami had filed a case against herbal
consumer goods maker Patanjali—
co-founded by yoga guru Baba
Ramdev—for allegedly copying the
design of Emami’s Kesh King bottle
for Patanjali’s Kesh Kanti bottles.
retUrnee
The companies settled out of court in
May. Patanjali says it has changed the
packaging.
• Emami has Bollywood actors and
tennis star Sania Mirza as brand
ambassadors
• Emami’s Fair and Handsome
men’s fairness cream is a
market leader in the UAE
86.  SaMeer Gehlaut
$1.55 BILLION 
SOURCE: Financial Services,
Real Estate
AGE: 42. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
IIT engineer’s mortgage lender,
Indiabulls Housing Finance, raised
$2.3 billion through bond issues
since July to fund expansion. It
owns a 40 percent stake in UK-based
OakNorth Bank, a lender to small
businesses. In February, he hosted
the 15-year celebration of his group
at the site of his upcoming $1.5 billion
residential development in Mumbai.
Gehlaut is building a luxury hotel in
London’s Mayfair area. He recently
bought a Global 5000 airplane.
87.  devendra jain
$1.54 BILLION 
SOURCE: diversified
AGE: 87. Married, 4 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
The Inox Group’s chairman’s listed
wind energy arm Inox Wind, run by
grandson Devansh, has a capacity
of 1,600 megawatts. With roots in
newsprint and chemicals, Inox is now
better known for its chain of cinemas,
with 109 multiplexes in 57 cities.
88.  jai hari &
yadu hari dalMia
$1.5 BILLION 
SOURCE: Cement
AGE: 71. Married, 1 Child
AGE: 69, Married, 2 children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Siblings run cement company Dalmia
Bharat, inherited from father
Jaidayal Dalmia, who established the
first factory in 1939. The $1.1 billion
(revenue) company, which counts
US-based private equity firm KKR
as an investor, is the fourth-largest
cement producer in the country,
with 11 factories. Benefiting from
rising demand, Dalmia Bharat has
seen its shares soar in the past year,
earning the brothers a spot on the
list for the first time. Their 2 sons
work with them. Other interests
include sugar and energy.
89.  viKaS oBeroi
$1.45 BILLION 
SOURCE: Real Estate
AGE: 46. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Property magnate who counts
Morgan Stanley as an early backer
of his Mumbai-focussed Oberoi
Realty returns to the ranks on
share gains and new information
on his private assets, after dropping
off last year. The firm, which
owns a Westin hotel in suburban
Mumbai, is building the city’s first
Ritz-Carlton hotel and residences,
due to open in 2018. This year,
Oberoi, who is not related to the
family behind the Oberoi hotel
chain, received approval to develop
a four-acre midtown plot that
he personally owns; he plans to
build a mall, hotel and serviced
apartments. (See story, page 114)
90.  anand Mahindra
$1.42 BILLION 
SOURCE: Automobiles
AGE: 61. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Mumbai
Harvard grad runs the $17.8 billion
(revenue) group and gets wealth
from listed flagship Mahindra
& Mahindra as well as a small stake
in Kotak Mahindra Bank. M&M,
whose businesses range from autos
to IT, launched 14 autos in the past
year, including the Blazo commercial
truck, which optimises fuel use based
on road and load conditions, and the
eVerito electric sedan.
• With 3.5 million followers on
Twitter, Mahindra was recently
named among the top 10 global
CEOs to follow by financial
media firm Benzinga, alongside
Bill Gates and Tim Cook
91.  Sanjiv GoenKa
$1.4 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 55. Married, 2 Children
RESIDENCE: Kolkata
Younger brother of Harsh Goenka
(No 75) controls $2.6 billion
(revenue) conglomerate RP-Sanjiv
Goenka Group. Its 117-year-old
power utility, CESC, with three
million customers, has expanded
beyond its eastern India stronghold
with newly acquired rights to
distribute electricity in Rajasthan.
Supermarket chain Spencer’s,
which son Shashwat looks after,
bought grocery website meragrocer.
com last December and plans to
start offering home deliveries.
Goenka, who owns cricket team
Rising Pune Supergiants and football
team Atletico de Kolkata, plans to
personally invest $75 million in
building a sports complex in Kolkata
that will include a stadium and a
budget hotel.
• Son Shashwat’s wedding
in January included a
performance by Cirque du
Soleil and drew 2,500 guests
92.  Malvinder
& Shivinder SinGh
$1.38 BILLION 
SOURCE: Health Care
AGE: 43. Married, 3 Children
AGE: 41. Married, 4 Children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Brothers faced setback when
a Singapore arbitration court
imposed a $390 million fine on
them for allegedly suppressing and
misrepresenting facts when they
sold their pharma firm, Ranbaxy
Laboratories, to Japan’s Daiichi
Sankyo eight years ago. The
Singhs denied any wrongdoing
and are contesting the ruling in
both Singapore and India. Their
hospital chain, Fortis Healthcare,
which Malvinder runs as executive
chairman, is demerging its
diagnostics business. The brothers
rejoined the board of financial
firm Religare Enterprises in a non-
executive capacity in July after
a six-year gap. Shivinder retired
from business last year to work
for a spiritual organisation.
93.  Sunder GenoMal
$1.35 BILLION 
SOURCE: Garments
AGE: 62.
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Gets wealth, which he shares with
two older brothers, from 49 percent
stake in Page Industries, one of
the biggest global licensees for
undergarment maker Jockey, which
is benefiting from rising sales. The
$269 million (revenue) Page makes
and sells underwear and leisurewear
in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal
and UAE.
• Genomal enjoys playing the guitar
94.  ajay KalSi
photographs: amit Verma
$1.31 BILLION 
SOURCE: Energy
AGE: 55. Married
Chairman of London-listed Indus
Gas, which owns natural gas blocks
in Rajasthan in western India, regains
his billionaire status and climbs back
into the ranks after a two-year hiatus
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 39
The 100 richesT indians
as shares of the energy firm jumped
fourfold since January. Indus plans
to spend $85 million to appraise and
develop existing wells. Kalsi’s other
interests span real estate, business-
process outsourcing and footwear. He
has a small stake in Reebok India.
95.  Bhavin & divyanK
turaKhia
$1.3 BILLION 
SOURCE: Tech
AGE: 36. Single
AGE: 34. Single
RESIDENCE: Dubai
Brothers make debut after selling
ad tech firm Media.net for $900
million to Chinese investors in
August. (See story, page 146)
96.  dilip & anand Surana
$1.29 BILLION 
SOURCE: Pharmaceuticals
AGE: 50. Married, 1 Child
AGE: 45. Married, 3 children
RESIDENCE: Bengaluru
Brothers run generics firm Micro
Labs, which they inherited from
their father, who started as a
pharmaceutical distributor in
Chennai. The firm aims to more
than double revenue to $1 billion
by 2020 from $385 million.
97.  azad Moopen
$1.28 BILLION 
SOURCE: Health Care
AGE: 63. Married, 3 Children
RESIDENCE: Dubai
Physician is preparing to list his
Dubai-based hospital chain Aster
DM Healthcare, which operates a
network of 13 hospitals, 87 clinics
and 180 pharmacies in the Middle
East and India. Aster treats 10
million patients annually and
employs over 1,000 doctors. In May,
Aster acquired a 25 percent stake
in Hyderabad’s Ramesh Hospitals.
Moopen gave up his teaching job
in his native Kerala and started
with a single clinic in Dubai in 1987.
Daughter Alisha overseas strategy.
Up down Unchanged new to list
40 | forbes india december 21, 2016
99.  rajju Shroff
98.  ShaMSheer vayalil $1.26 BILLION 
$1.27 BILLION  SOURCE: Agrochemicals
SOURCE: Health Care AGE: 83. Married, 3 Children
AGE: 39. Married, 4 Children RESIDENCE: Mumbai
RESIDENCE: Abu Dhabi Chairman of UPL, a leading
Son-in-law of MA Yusuff Ali agrochemicals player, returns
(No 25) founded and runs VPS to the list after a six-year hiatus
Healthcare, a network of hospitals, on a jump in shares propelled by
clinics and pharmacies in the UAE growing sales in Latin America and
and India. Born into a business Europe. He owns a one-third stake
family in Kerala, he migrated to the in UPL, started by him in 1969 to
Middle East after medical studies make red phosphorus, which is
and worked as a radiologist at a used in matchsticks. Older son Jai
local hospital. Backed initially by runs operations and is global chief
his father-in-law, he started with executive officer and vice chairman.
one hospital in Abu Dhabi in 2007. In June, UPL acquired a 26 percent
VPS expanded into India this stake in forecasting firm Weather
year by acquiring the Rockland Risk Management Services.
Hospital chain in North India and
the Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi. 100.  ShyaM & hari
Bhartia
$1.25 BILLION 
SOURCE: Diversified
AGE: 63. Married, 3 Children
AGE: 59. Married, 4 children
RESIDENCE: Delhi
Brothers get more than half their
wealth from pharma flaghsip
Jubilant Life Sciences, which
surged 74 percent, buoyed partly
by higher margins reported in
a recent quarter. About a third
of the fortune is from their
fast-food company Jubilant
FoodWorks, which operates
Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’
Donuts outlets in India. Both have
been affected by sluggish demand
and competition from popular
online food-delivery services.
Brothers delisted their AIM-listed
energy arm in the past year.
M e t h o d o l o g y
This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information
obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts
and India’s regulatory agencies. The ranking lists family fortunes,
including those shared among extended families such as the Godrej
and Bajaj families. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock
prices and exchange rates as of September 9. Private companies
were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.
retUrnee
The 100 richesT indians

Telling Their Fortunes

a low-down of the 2016 forbes india rich list: new faces, returnees,
top gainers and losers, the hot sectors and some interesting facts
By PRAViN PALANDe, NeeRAJ GANGAL & PRAMoD MAtHew; iNfoGRAPHiCS: PRADeeP BeLHe

25 $83.7 bln ToTal nET worTh of InDIa’s

top five billionaires

Is MorE Than
1
$22.7 bln
*By comparison,
Estonia has a GDP
20 of $22.7 bln

ThE cosT of
1,230 Mars 18 times ThE PrIcE of
ThE cosT of
Orbiter hosTInG 128,967,642
‘ManGalyaan’ ThE 2016 rio aPPlE iPhonE 7
MIssIons olympics (32 GB) PhonEs

15
W e a lt h ( $ b l n )

4
$15 bln
*By comparison,
22
Mozambique’s GDP
10 is $14.7 bln $4.8 bln
The biggest
wealth gainer
(in %) in the list

0
Mukesh
Ambani
Dilip
Shanghvi
Hinduja
brothers
Azim
Premji
Pallonji
Mistry
Lakshmi
Mittal
Godrej
family
Shiv
Nadar
Kumar
Birla
Cyrus
Poonawalla
Uday
Kotak
Sunil
Mittal
Gautam
Adani
Benu Gopal
Bangur
Anand
Burman
Shashi &
Ravi Ruia
Bajaj
family
Subhash
Chandra
Savitri
Jindal
Desh Bandhu
Gupta
Vikram
Lal
Kushal Pal
Singh
Pankaj
Patel
Micky
Jagtiani

2016 2015
*World Bank data for 2015

42 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 crests and troughs billionaires
How tHe fortunes of tHis year’s top five Have moved since by sector
2009
PharMacEuTIcals DIvErsIfIED

35
Mukesh Ambani
(Change in wealth since first
30 appearance: -29%) 18 13
25
rEalTy consuMEr GooDs
wealth ($ bln)

20

15 7 6
Azim Premji
(+0.67%)
10 sofTwarE/IT hEalTh carE
Pallonji Mistry
(+101%) Hinduja brothers
5 (+90%)
5
Dilip Shanghvi
(+312%) 4
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
PaInTs MEDIa
Pallonji Mistry and three of the four hinduja brothers are not indian citizens and were not
considered in the rich lists earlier. however, they were included in 2010 and 2012 resPectively,
due to their business ties to the country
4 3

Wealth MoTorcylEs oThErs

of Top 100

$381 bln 78%

sharE of ToP 50
3 37

48
29 $ 2.5 bln
$ 3.65 bln Debuts riding on
replaces his late Patanjali’s rise
father Brijmohan
lall Munjal
BR Shetty
Kuldip & Gurbachan
Singh Dhingra
Pawan Munjal
Harsh
Mariwala
Vivek Chaand
Sehgal
Anil
Ambani
Kapil & Rahul
Bhatia
Ashwin
Dani
Ajay
Piramal

Jain family

PV Ramprasad
Reddy
Ravi
Pillai
Vijay
Chauhan
Kalanithi
Maran
Murali
Divi
Samprada
Singh
Ashwin
Choksi
Yusuf
Hamied
Rajan
Raheja
Vinod & Anil
Rai Gupta

Acharya
Balkrishna
Abhay
Vakil
Chandru
Raheja
MA Yusuff
Ali
Madhukar
Parekh
Sudhir &
Samir Mehta

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 43

The 100 richesT indians

neWcoMers and returnees oVerall Wealth

tHe debutants contributed $11.8 billion to tHe wealtH tHe total wortH of tHe 100 ricHest indians witnessed a steep
of tHe list tHis year, wHile tHose wHo made a comeback 20 percent fall in 2011, and scaled a new HigH only in 2014
poured in a combined $13.5 billion

Rank Name Wealth Status

($ bln)
4.
400
381
29 Pawan Munjal 3.65 
%

oVeRALL weALtH ($ BLN)

10
48 Acharya Balkrishna 2.50  346
3.
350
82 Satish Mehta 1.60 
345
88 Jai Hari & Yadu 1.50 

33%
300
Hari Dalmia 3.
300
95 Bhavin & Divyank 1.30  9%

-2
0%
turakhia 276 250
259
98 Shamsheer Vayalil 1.27  2.
250
3%
4%
52 Karsanbhai Patel 2.24  241

59 MG George Muthoot 1.92 

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
65 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw 1.83 
66 Hasmukh Chudgar 1.80  Change in wealth

73 Murugappa family 1.70 

89 Vikas oberoi 1.45 
leaps & plunges
94 Ajay Kalsi 1.31 
top gainers
99 Rajju Shroff 1.26 

 NEW  REtuRNEE
22 35 36

3.1% 3.5%
Kushal Pal ajay jaIn
sInGh PIraMal faMIly
84.6% 82.6% 73%
Newcomers’ returNees’
coNtributioN to share iN overall
overall wealth wealth 46 28
vInoD & anIl KulDIP & GurBachan rank in 2016
raI GuPTa sInGh DhInGra
tricKling doWn wealth change
tHe 80-20 rule, wHen applied to tHe ricH list, sHould
61.5% 55.5% from 2015
translate to tHe top20 billionaires accounting for 80
percent of tHe wealtH. However, tHe sHare of tHe top 20
in overall wealtH Has steadily eroded from 70 percent in
biggest losers
2009 to 52 percent in 2016, indicating a trickling down of
fortunes to tHe lower order
92 Malvinder & Shivinder Singh -22%
450
400
350
96 Dilip & Anand Surana -18.4%
weALtH ($ BLN)

300
250 54 Reddy family -17.6%
66%

58%

52%
70%

55%
62%

200
65%

62%

-17%
150
100 24 Micky Jagtiani
50
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 55 Amalgamations Group family -14.3%
top 20 Next 80

44 | forbes india december 21, 2016

the 100 richest indians 50 Chandru Raheja 2.40 14.3 -6 8
missing in 2016: tHe poster boys of indian ecommerce 51 Baba Kalyani 2.25 -2.2 -10 8

rank name Wealth change change appear- 52 Karsanbhai Patel 2.24 Returnee Returnee 5
2016 in 2016 in wealth in rank ances 53 Rakesh Jhunjhunwala 2.20 18.3 3 8
($ bln) from 2015 from since
(%) 2015 2009 54 Reddy family 2.15 -17.6 -21 8

1 Mukesh Ambani 22.70 20.1 0 8 55 Amalgamations Group 2.10 -14.3 -18 3

family
2 Dilip Shanghvi 16.90 -6.1 0 8
56 Mangal Prabhat Lodha 2.05 No Change -11 7
3 Hinduja brothers 15.20 2.7 1 5
57 Sunil Vaswani 2.00 No Change -9 2
4 Azim Premji 15.00 -5.7 -1 8
58 Rajendra Agarwal 1.95 6.0 0 3
5 Pallonji Mistry 13.90 -5.4 0 7
59 MG George Muthoot 1.92 Returnee Returnee 4
6 Lakshmi Mittal 12.50 11.6 2 8
60 Sunny Varkey 1.90 -5.9 -13 4
7 Godrej family 12.40 8.8 0 8
61 Rajesh Mehta 1.88 10.6 4 6
8 Shiv Nadar 11.40 -11.6 -2 8
62 NR Narayana Murthy 1.87 -2.6 -9 8
9 Kumar Birla 8.80 12.8 1 8
63 Anil Agarwal 1.86 -5.1 -12 8
10 Cyrus Poonawalla 8.60 8.9 -1 8
11 Uday Kotak 8.30 27.7 1 8 64 Mannalal Agrawal 1.85 37.0 20 2

12 Sunil Mittal 6.60 6.5 1 8 65 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw 1.83 Returnee Returnee 7

13 Gautam Adani 6.30 -10.0 -2 8 66 Hasmukh Chudgar 1.80 Returnee Returnee 2

14 Benu Gopal Bangur 5.90 51.3 8 8 67 Mofatraj Munot 1.79 17.0 11 7

15 Anand Burman 5.85 6.4 1 8 68 Lachhman Das Mittal 1.78 -8.7 -16 5

16 Shashi & Ravi Ruia 5.80 No Change -1 8 69 Glenn Saldanha 1.77 -10.2 -19 5

17 Bajaj family 5.70 29.5 2 8 70 Abhay firodia 1.76 38.6 18 4

18 Subhash Chandra 5.60 16.7 0 8 71 Nirav Modi 1.74 24.3 11 4

19 Savitri Jindal 5.30 39.5 4 8 72 Ramesh Juneja 1.72 11.7 5 4

20 Desh Bandhu Gupta 5.10 -13.6 -6 8 73 Murugappa family 1.70 Returnee Returnee 7
21 Vikram Lal 5.00 16.3 -1 5 74 Ranjan Pai 1.69 -3.4 -10 5
22 Kushal Pal Singh 4.80 84.6 12 8 75 Harsh Goenka 1.67 10.6 4 6
23 Pankaj Patel 4.50 9.8 -2 8 76 Jitendra Virwani 1.66 0.6 -8 5
24 Micky Jagtiani 4.40 -17.0 -7 8 77 Salil Singhal 1.65 32.0 13 2
25 MA Yusuff Ali 4.00 8.1 -1 4 78 PNC Menon 1.64 32.3 13 4
26 Madhukar Parekh 3.90 25.8 0 4 79 Leena tewari 1.63 -14.2 -25 2
27 Sudhir & Samir Mehta 3.85 16.7 -2 8 80 Nandan Nilekani 1.62 0.6 -11 8
28 Kuldip & Gurbachan 3.70 55.5 11 4 81 S Gopalakrishnan 1.61 -3.6 -14 8
Singh Dhingra
82 Satish Mehta 1.60 New New 1
29 Pawan Munjal 3.65 New New 1
83 Ravi Jaipuria 1.57 No Change -10 4
30 Harsh Mariwala 3.64 40.5 5 8
84 Radhe Shyam Agarwal 1.56 0.6 -9 5
31 Vivek Chaand Sehgal 3.60 44.0 5 5
84 Radhe Shyam Goenka 1.56 0.6 -9 5
32 Anil Ambani 3.40 17.2 -3 8
86 Sameer Gehlaut 1.55 3.3 -6 4
33 Kapil & Rahul Bhatia 3.35 39.6 5 6
87 Devendra Jain 1.54 -3.1 -16 6
34 Ashwin Dani 3.30 50.0 9 8
88 Jai Hari & Yadu Hari 1.50 New New 1
35 Ajay Piramal 3.25 82.6 27 8
Dalmia
36 Jain family 3.20 73.0 21 8
89 Vikas oberoi 1.45 Returnee Returnee 7
37 PV Ramprasad Reddy 3.15 12.5 -7 5
90 Anand Mahindra 1.42 26.8 9 6
38 Ravi Pillai 3.10 31.9 2 4
91 Sanjiv Goenka 1.40 19.7 6 6
39 Vijay Chauhan 3.00 11.1 -8 4
92 Malvinder & Shivinder 1.38 -22.0 -29 8
40 Kalanithi Maran 2.90 9.4 -8 8 Singh
41 Murali Divi 2.80 22.8 1 8 93 Sunder Genomal 1.35 12.5 2 2
42 Samprada Singh 2.70 36.4 7 4 94 Ajay Kalsi 1.31 Returnee Returnee 5
43 Ashwin Choksi 2.65 40.2 12 8 95 Bhavin & Divyank 1.30 New New 1
44 Yusuf Hamied 2.60 -11.9 -16 8 turakhia
45 Rajan Raheja 2.55 25.6 1 8 96 Dilip & Anand Surana 1.29 -18.4 -24 3
46 Vinod & Anil Rai Gupta 2.52 61.5 28 2 97 Azad Moopen 1.28 -11.7 -16 3
47 BR Shetty 2.51 48.5 19 5 98 Shamsheer Vayalil 1.27 New New 1
48 Acharya Balkrishna 2.50 New New 1 99 Rajju Shroff 1.26 Returnee Returnee 2
49 Abhay Vakil 2.45 34.6 11 8 100 Shyam & Hari Bhartia 1.25 3.3 -6 8

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 45

 The 100 richesT indians
(q u i c k ta k e s )
The Dropouts
industry woes and market volatility played a part
in these 13 tycoons not making the cut in 2016
Habil KHoraKiwala
Wockhardt Ltd
No 59 in 2015
Habil Khorakiwala, 74, chairs the
Mumbai-based pharma major that has
been battling headwinds ever since
the US Food and Drug Administration
(USFDA) issued an import alert
against its drug manufacturing facility
in Chikalthana, Maharashtra, in
2013. This implies that drugs made
at this facility can’t enter the US, the
largest market for generic drugs in
the world. (The alert had not been
vikAs khot
lifted till the time of going to press.)
The US drug regulator has also made
46 | forbes india december 21, 2016
By Aveek DAttA
habil khorakiwala
some adverse observations against
the company’s manufacturing units
in Waluj, Maharashtra, and issued
another import alert against a unit
in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, where
Wockhardt makes active pharma
ingredients. Its share price has
tanked by around 35 percent over
the last one year compared to a
10.5 percent increase in the S&P
BSE Sensex. While the company’s
revenues have remained stable
year-on-year in 2015-16 at Rs 4,558
crore, net profit declined by 19.5
percent in the same period.
Venugopal DHoot
Videocon Industries Ltd
No 61 in 2015
A slowdown in the consumer durables
sector and declining returns from
the oil and gas business, in line with
the fall in global crude prices, have
taken a toll on Videocon, and on
the fortunes of its chief, Venugopal
Dhoot, 65. The company is reeling
under a debt burden of around
Rs 43,000 crore. In June 2016, Credit
Analysis and Research (CARE) Ltd
cut its ratings on the company’s
bank loans. Videocon, which also
has a telecommunications venture,
sold the spectrum it held to Bharti
Airtel in March 2016 for Rs 4,428
crore. According to recent reports,
the company is planning to monetise
some of its international oil and gas
assets to repay debt. Over the last
one year, Videocon’s share price
has declined by 24.5 percent.
SHiSHir bajaj
Bajaj Group
No 85 in 2015
Following a separation of business
interests among members of the
Bajaj family, Shishir Bajaj, 68, and his
son Kushagra Nayan Bajaj control
the interests in sugar production,
power transmission, FMCG and
infrastructure. The flagship company
is Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd,
Asia’s largest and the world’s fourth
largest sugar producer. Owing to
the challenges in the Indian sugar
industry, including low price
realisation and high sugarcane dues
to farmers, the company has been
 venugopal Dhoot
reeling under losses. It even had to
approach bankers to restructure
its debt and temporarily shut down
operations at some of its units.
However, Bajaj Hindusthan was
successful in narrowing its losses
in 2015-16 to Rs 206.59 crore, from
Rs 1,192.45 crore in the preceding
fiscal. Prospects for the Indian
sugar industry have been looking up
recently as prices have firmed up due
to a fall in production, improvement
in exports, and higher proportion
of ethanol (a byproduct of sugar
production) blending with fuel.
The group’s other big business is
consumer products, which has also
seen muted volume growth due to
a general slowdown in the sector.
SacHin banSal anD
binny banSal
Flipkart
Both No 86 in 2015
Sachin Bansal, 35, and Binny Bansal,
33, have been the poster boys of the
Indian ecommerce growth story.
The friends—they aren’t related to
each other—worked for Amazon
before pooling in their life’s savings
to start Flipkart in 2007 as an online
seller of books. The venture has
Chirayu Amin
since metamorphosed into India’s
largest ecommerce company, selling
everything from electronics to
footwear and apparel. To strengthen
its foothold in the online apparel
retailing business, Flipkart even
acquired Myntra in 2014. But intense
competition in the ecommerce space,
with Amazon investing heavily in
India to corner market share and
Snapdeal trying to retain its foothold,
has taken a toll on Flipkart. That,
along with profitability concerns,
has led many existing investors
to re-evaluate their holdings in
the company. On the basis of the
markdowns, the ecommerce venture’s
current valuation is pegged to be
around $10 billion, down from $15
billon at its peak. (See page 154)
cHirayu amin
Alembic Group
No 93 in 2015
Chirayu Amin, 69, is the patriarch of
the Vadodara-based Alembic Group,
whose main business interests include
pharmaceuticals and real estate.
Alembic Pharmaceuticals, one of the
oldest pharma companies in India,
has been making rapid strides to
grow its generic drugs business in the
US over the last few years and has a
sizeable portfolio of drugs in India as
well. Over the last four years till FY16,
Alembic Pharma’s revenues have
grown at a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 21 percent to Rs 3,145
crore and net profit has grown at 53
percent to Rs 719 crore. But sectoral
challenges have seen the pricing
power of drug-makers in India come
under pressure and have resulted
in relatively tepid growth for
Alembic Pharmaceuticals in the
domestic sector. Over the last year
till September 30, the company’s
share price has seen considerable
venugopAl Dhoot; vikAs khot; ChiRAyu Amin: mexy xAvieR
volatility, fluctuating between a high
of Rs 737 per share, to as low as
Rs 527, before rising again to around
Rs 650. The group’s other listed
entity, Alembic Ltd, which houses
the real estate business, has also seen
similar fluctuations in its stock price.
tHe otHerS
Rakesh Gangwal 70 (Rank in 2015)
Balkrishan Goenka 83
Achal Bakeri 89
Murli Dhar & Bimal Gyanchandani 92
K Dinesh 96
Radhakishan Damani 98
Raghuvinder Kataria 100
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 47
 The 100 richesT indians

( p r o f i l e s)

k i r a n m a z u m da r - s h aw

Biocon ’s
Brewmaster
through her focus on technology,
scale and grit, kiran mazumdar-shaw
has helped build biocon into a global
biopharma force to reckon with
By Aveek DAttA
 kiran Mazumdar-Shaw,
chairperson and MD of
Biocon, has taken bold
bets, some of which
were ahead of their time

BMAXiMAge
The 100 richesT indians

O
n September 9,
Bengaluru—India’s
IT hub—came to a
grinding halt due to a
general strike called
comeback isn’t far to seek. The
company ended fiscal 2016 with Rs
3,570 crore in revenues, up 14 percent
over FY15, and a net profit of Rs
896 crore (including an exceptional
lead to sustainable value creation.
Ours is a long gestation business and
it can take up to 10 years for a product
to come to market. Very few investors
are willing to wait for that long.”

B
against a Supreme gain of Rs 575.40 crore fuelled by
Court directive, asking the Karnataka the listing of its contract research efore establishing Biocon
government to release water from subsidiary Syngene), up 80 percent in 1978, Mazumdar-Shaw
river Cauvery to Tamil Nadu. over the previous year. Over the had returned to India with
One prominent Bengaluru citizen, last five years, Biocon’s topline a master’s degree in malting
industrialist Kiran Mazumdar- has grown at a compound annual and brewing from Ballarat College,
Shaw, decided to raise her voice on growth rate (CAGR) of 14 percent, Melbourne University. Her biography,
Twitter against the demonstrations while its bottomline has risen at 19.5 Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar-
that were crippling normal life. As percent annually. Its market value Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech,
is the trend these days, Mazumdar- has skyrocketed to Rs 19,107 crore points out that Mazumdar-Shaw, the
Shaw immediately got trolled by the (as on October 5), more than double daughter of Rasendra Mazumdar,
pro-agitation brigade. Undaunted, of what it was a year back. The former chief brewmaster at United
she followed this up with an open benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose a Breweries, realised it wouldn’t be easy
letter, where she empathised with modest five percent in that period. for a woman to land a job at a brewery
the farmers who would suffer from To get to this point, Mazumdar- in India those days. She was about to
the SC verdict, but reiterated that Shaw has taken bold bets, some of leave for Scotland to work at a malting
bandhs weren’t the solution. which were ahead of their time and company when she was approached
This isn’t the first time that not always palatable to stakeholders. by Les Auchincloss, the owner of
Mazumdar-Shaw has spoken up on But she stayed the course even as an Irish company called Biocon
issues of public concern. She has been questions were repeatedly raised Biochemicals. He wanted Mazumdar-
as much vocal about Bengaluru’s over Biocon’s business model and its Shaw to be their partner for the
civic infrastructure as she has been need to spend copiously on research company’s proposed Indian foray.
with gender biases in corporations. and development (R&D), without Though initially hesitant, she
Says TV Mohandas Pai, immediate sales and decided to enter into a joint venture
an old acquaintance and at a glance profitability. For with the Irish firm. Just 25 at the
chairman of Manipal instance, five years ago, time, she became the head of Biocon
Kiran MazuMdar-
Global Education, Shaw Biocon’s shares were India. (Biocon Biochemicals was
“She is a strong person Chairperson and MD, trading at about Rs 350 acquired by Unilever in 1989, and its
Biocon
who is not afraid to apiece; they appreciated stake in the Indian joint venture was
share strong views that age: 63 to only about Rs sold to Mazumdar-Shaw in 1998.)
are based on fact.” 450 till a year back, Biocon India has come a long way
rank in the
It is this feistiness rich List: 65 representing a CAGR of since its start as India’s first exporter
with which the 63-year- only six percent. But on of enzymes to the US and Europe
net worth: $1.83 billion
old chairperson and MD October 5, they closed (the enzymes division was divested
of Biocon has pioneered The Big Challenge at Rs 955.35 per share. in 2007). By the time Mazumdar-
an enterprise in the field Faced: to convince in- “It used to bother me Shaw completely acquired Biocon,
vestors that the busi-
of biopharmaceuticals, ness model of incur- [that investors didn’t the company had perfected an
emerging, in the process, ring high R&D costs appreciate Biocon’s in-house proprietary fermentation
will yield sustainable
as India’s richest returns. encourag- efforts earlier],” admits technology and used it to enter
self-made woman. Pai ing developments in Mazumdar-Shaw in a biopharmaceuticals and statins (drugs
Japan and europe
believes that Mazumdar- have stoked investor telephone interview. used to lower cholesterol levels).
Shaw is perhaps at “the confidence “But not anymore. The Indian pharmaceuticals
peak of her career”, The way Forward: Investors prefer to bet industry, as a whole, has done
and her strong return in FY17, Biocon will on simple ideas and well for itself by catering to the
be filing for approval
to the Forbes India in the US and europe Biocon is a complex, lucrative generic drugs market in the
Rich List for 2016, after for four new biosimi- technology-driven story. US. Most of the medicines made by
lar drugs and look to
dropping out last year, commercialise them This technology will be Indian companies are chemically-
reflects his confidence. soon thereafter a big differentiator for synthesised from small molecules,
The reason for her Biocon in future and which are organic compounds that

50 | forbes india december 21, 2016

help regulate a biological process.
But the biologic drugs that Biocon
specialises in are made from large
molecules, which, essentially, are
proteins found in living organisms.
Biologics are believed to be capable of
delivering better targeted treatment
for ailments, with fewer side-
effects than small molecule drugs.
“Our overarching mission was
to provide affordable access to
very expensive life-saving drugs
in the field of biologics,” says
Mazumdar-Shaw. “I always
believe that if any business idea
succeeds in India, it will be a
success globally. So we wanted
to make these world-class drugs
in India at a much lower cost.”
The first blockbuster drug that
Biocon made and sold was human
insulin, using a new method known
as the Pichia fermentation technique
that Mazumdar-Shaw imported
from Cuba. The novel method
helped Biocon make insulin with
the same efficacy, but at a much
lower cost. This encouraged her to
set up a large insulin-making facility
in Malaysia with $250 million,
and also expand the scope of the
company’s biologic drug discovery
initiatives and development of
biosimilars (a drug with similar
properties to a previously licenced
biologic drug). Some therapeutic
areas targeted by Biocon include
diabetes, oncology, autoimmune
diseases and dermatology.
Biocon’s drug discovery
programme includes four molecules
that are under development: Insulin
Tregopil (a rapid-action insulin);
Itolizumab (commercialised in
India to treat psoriasis and being
developed for other global markets);
siRNA (for rare diseases); and
fusion proteins (combination of
large and small molecules for
targeted cancer treatment).
Work on these new biologic
drugs puts Biocon among the few
innovator companies in the Indian
pharmaceuticals industry, where
most other players are making
generic versions of drugs that are
going off-patent. This has also
helped the drugmaker develop a
robust biosimilars programme,
since it understands the process of
discovering a new drug in a lab to
developing it for end-use. “Our legacy
in biotechnology propelled us to get
into biosimilars very early on,” says
Arun Chandavarkar, Biocon’s chief
executive and joint managing director.
At present, Biocon has a robust
pipeline of 10 biosimilar drugs
(including different types of
insulin) under development with
an addressable market size of $60
billion. In order to diversify the risk
associated with the development
“2016 could be a turning
point for biocon. four
potential filings...would
bring it recognition.”
of these products, Biocon has
partnered with US generic drug-
maker Mylan. The strategic
collaboration leverages Biocon’s
development and manufacturing
capabilities and Mylan’s regulatory
and commercial expertise.
In its latest investor presentation
in June 2016, Biocon stated that,
in FY17, it is on track to file for
regulatory approval pertaining to
four of these drugs across the US
and Europe. These drugs have either
completed Phase-III trials or are
in advanced stages of doing so.
Despite the rapid strides made
by Biocon towards developing new
biologics as well as biosimilars, the
company’s stock had been out of
favour with investors who had the
option of buying into several Indian
generic drugmakers. Many of them
have been reporting consistent
operating profit margins of over 30
percent and return on equity (RoE)
of over 40 percent. In comparison,
Biocon’s RoE and operating
profit margin stood at a relatively
modest 24 percent each in FY16.
The Street’s scepticism over
Biocon’s future potential stemmed
from the fact that compared to
small-molecule generic drugs, the
R&D costs for developing biologics,
including biosimilars, are significantly
high and the time taken is long.
According to Chandavarkar, each
biosimilar molecule costs anywhere
between $50-150 million to develop,
as compared to the $3 million needed
for a traditional generic drug.
Also, biologics and biosimilars are
at a relatively nascent stage around
the world and comprise a smaller,
though fast-growing, portion of
the global pharma market. That is
expected to reach around 20 percent
of the global pharmaceuticals market
in 2017, according to data from
IMS Health, an American provider
of global health care information
and technology services. Also, the
regulatory landscape governing
their use is still evolving in mature
markets like the US and Europe.
“Although the global biosimilar
story has more questions than
answers at this point, these will
be addressed by market forces,
regulators and courts in the years
to come,” says a Morgan Stanley
research report dated April 5.
B
ut as the maxim goes,
nothing succeeds like
success. A couple of
encouraging international
developments pertaining to its
biologics portfolio have turned the
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 51
 The 100 richesT indians
kiran Mazumdar-Shaw at the launch of biological drug Alzumab in August 2013 in Bengaluru
investors’ tide in Biocon’s favour.
Biocon received regulatory
approval to sell Insulin Glargine
(a long-acting insulin biosimilar) in
a tough regulatory market like Japan
in March 2016. This was followed by
announcements in July and August
that the European Medicines Agency
had accepted Biocon’s application
to market biosimilar Pegfilgrastim
and Trastuzumab (both cancer
drugs) for review. Meanwhile,
Biocon also started selling Insulin
Glargine and Trastuzumab in
emerging markets last fiscal.
All of this has led investors to
believe that Biocon may be on the
right track after all. The Morgan
Stanley report says: “2016 could be
a turning point for Biocon. Four
potential filings in the US and
gettY iMAgeS
EU (European Union) would add
credibility to its pipeline and bring
market recognition. Emerging
52 | forbes india december 21, 2016
markets monetization is underway,
but the US and EU opportunities
will take at least two years.”
The greater opportunities
opening up in the global biopharma
market are well-suited to Biocon,
considering its headstart in the
sector. For one, a larger proportion
of new drugs being approved by
regulators like the US Food and
Drug Administration (USFDA) are
biologics (due to their higher efficacy
and lower side effects). “More than
half of the top 10 drugs sold in the
world now are biologics,” says
Chandavarkar. Besides, the global
biosimilars market is also nearing an
inflection point with original drugs
worth around $70 billion slated to
lose patent protection by 2025. This
opens up a significant opportunity
for companies like Biocon.
Because of the high entry-barriers
(such as R&D cost) and limited
competition in this space, the erosion
in the prices of biosimilar drugs is
going to be less severe than in the
case of generic drugs. Depending
on demand and competition, the
generic version of a small-molecule
drug can sell for as cheap as at 10
percent of the price of the original
drug. “Given the limited competition,
pricing discount to brand could be
around 30-40 percent, implying
around $15 billion biosimilars
market by 2025,” says a report by
Axis Capital dated January 5.
Industry experts expect drug
regulators to expedite the process of
approving biosimilar drugs in order
to ease the pressure on government
health care budgets. Besides,
private sector health insurance
companies are also likely to promote
the use of biosimilars, since they
are considerably cheaper than the
expensive original biologic versions.
W
hile Biocon’s promising
biopharma business is
one leg of its growth
story, the other and
equally important aspect is Syngene
International, Biocon’s contract
research organisation (CRO).
In 1994, Biocon set up Syngene
to address the growing need for
outsourced R&D in pharma. Syngene
was listed as a separate entity last year
and its shares have skyrocketed since
then. The company, which was earlier
a 100 percent subsidiary of Biocon,
helps pharma companies from across
the world with their drug discovery,
development and commercialisation
endeavours. It has emerged as Asia’s
largest CRO that caters to eight
of the top 10 drugmakers in the
the great opportunities in global
biopharma are well suited to
biocon, given its headstart
world, including marquee global
names like Bristol Myers Squibb,
Amgen, and Abbott Nutrition.
In August 2015, Biocon raised
Rs 550 crore by selling a portion of
its holding in Syngene through a
public issue. The parent company
holds a 73.4 percent stake in the
company at present. Syngene’s
share prices have risen over 60
percent since, to Rs 498.70 per share
as on October 5, and its present
market value is at Rs 9,970 crore.
The growth in Syngene’s earnings
and market value also partially reflect
in Biocon’s consolidated performance
by virtue of the latter’s shareholding
in the company. According to
Syngene’s latest investor presentation
dated July 2016, the company’s
revenues have grown at a CAGR of
28 percent between FY12 and FY16
to Rs 1,113 crore; during the same
period, operating profit rose at a
CAGR of 27 percent to Rs 363 crore,
and the company reported an average
operating profit margin of 32 percent.
The other hallmark of Syngene’s
business model is the longevity of its
contracts. “The company manages to
roll forward around 90-95 percent
of its existing business into the next
year. Every year, around two-thirds
of new business comes from existing
clients and the rest comes from new
clients,” says a Motilal Oswal research
report dated October 4. “This
demonstrates the company’s strong
client relationship-building skills.”
To further improve connect with
consumers from different corners of
the world, Syngene roped in Jonathan
Hunt as CEO in January this year.
Hunt was president and director
at AstraZeneca, Austria, and chief
operating officer at AstraZeneca
India, before joining Syngene.
Syngene has set itself a target to
achieve a turnover of $250 million
(around Rs 1,666 crore) by FY18 and
appears on its way to achieve that
goal. One of the strategies adopted
by the company to boost its earnings
is to move up the value chain. As
part of its current business offerings,
Syngene manufactures, for its clients,
limited batches of drugs for the initial
commercial launch phase. The CRO is
now getting into full-scale commercial
manufacturing of APIs (active pharma
ingredients) for its customers, and
is building a $100-million facility
for this purpose in Mangaluru. It
expected to be ready in 2019.
“Over the course of our work
we have built a lot of process
knowledge and will use that to
take up manufacturing on behalf
of clients,” says Manoj Nerurkar,
Syngene’s chief operating officer.
“Taking the final manufacturing of
the end-product elsewhere would
involve technology transfer and risk
to intellectual property (IP). Since
we have maintained an impeccable
track record of maintaining data
integrity and confidentiality, it
becomes an attractive proposition
for clients to stick with us even
for commercial manufacturing.”
And therein lies the secret of
Syngene’s success: Despite being the
subsidiary of another pharmaceuticals
company, and a CRO to multiple drug-
makers from around the world, it has
been able to manage strict control on
data integrity and IP. “There is a very
strong firewall between Biocon and
us,” says Nerurkar. “Except Kiran,
who is the group chairperson, every
other functional team, including the
R&D team, are separate. If you ask
the Biocon CEO about the projects
that Syngene is working on, he
wouldn’t know.” Even Syngene’s
employees who work on different
projects at the same time have been
trained not to chat casually about
their confidential work, even over
a cup of coffee in the canteen.
Syngene was born out of
Mazumdar-Shaw’s foresight that
if Indian IT companies can work
on critical projects for global
corporations, then there was an
opportunity to replicate the same
model in the pharma space. And
whether at Biocon or Syngene,
Mazumdar-Shaw’s focus on
technology and intellectual
property, along with her resilience,
have helped her build pharma
enterprises of global scale. These
qualities may well have seen
Mazumdar-Shaw become a
globally renowned brewmaster. But
fortuitously, the brewing industry’s
loss has been Indian pharma’s gain.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 53
 The 100 richesT indians

( p r o f i l e s)

a jay p i r a m a l

Ajay Piramal, chairman

of Piramal Group,
invariably chooses the
path less travelled
 Eye
on the
Prize
by staying alert to investment opportunities and
betting on long-term potential, ajay piramal has
built a diversified empire of successful businesses

By SAlil PAnchAl

JoShuA nAvAlkAr

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 55

The 100 richesT indians
A
jay Piramal, chairman
of the well-diversified,
$3.2 billion Piramal
Group, has been
navigating the world
of big business for over
three decades now and, despite the
length of his journey, he has managed
to avoid any serious misstep. Reason:
Even while taking decisions relating
to investments, he has kept the values
and the approach of trusteeship at
the core—be it in financial services
and health care under the holding
and flagship company Piramal
Enterprises Ltd (PEL), real estate
development through Piramal
Realty or philanthropic activity
through the Piramal Foundation.
Of course, his biggest windfalls
are the result of contrarian
calls: For instance, entering the
pharmaceuticals space in 1988 by
acquiring Australian multinational
Nicholas Laboratories when others
stayed clear of the field. Then, selling
Piramal Healthcare’s branded generic
drugs business for $3.72 billion
to Abbott Laboratories in 2010,
when multinationals like Pfizer and
GlaxoSmithKline Plc were eyeing a
bigger share of the Indian market.
Piramal, thereafter, struck it big by
investing in Vodafone, at a time when
the telecom sector was plagued by
intense competition and low tariffs.
Flush with funds from the Abbott
deal, PEL picked up a near 11 percent
stake in Vodafone’s Indian arm for
over Rs 5,800 crore and exited in
2014 with a roughly 52 percent gain.
He continues to eye growth
opportunities in other sectors. PEL,
which operates three main lines of
businesses (financial services, health
care and information management),
is involved in wholesale lending to
real estate projects across major
cities, at a time when others have
shied away due to a sluggish growth
trajectory. Between May 2013 and
June 2014, Piramal’s PEL picked
up stakes in three companies
of the Chennai-headquartered
56 | forbes india december 21, 2016
financial services conglomerate was precision cutting tools. By
Shriram Group; he also became 1984, Ajay Piramal, then only 29,
chairman of the group in 2015. along with his eldest brother, the
“We always go on the path less late Ashok Piramal, found himself
travelled,” Ajay Piramal, 61, tells at the helm of the family business
Forbes India in an interview at after their father Gopikrishna passed
the Piramal Group’s corporate away suddenly in New York.
headquarters at Peninsula Corporate By 1988, Ajay Piramal had decided
Park in Mumbai’s Lower Parel. to focus less on the textile business,
And traversing that path has paid which was a failing sector plagued
off. His flagship company by labour strikes. It
PEL’s revenues have at a glance continued to be a
risen at 29 percent CAGR AjAy PirAmAl
part of the broader
over the past four years chairman, Piramal Piramal Group, which
Group & Shriram Group
to Rs 6,610 crore for the was then managed
year ended March 31, Age: 61 by Ajay Piramal and
2016; net profit went up rank in the
his sister-in-law Urvi
at 71 percent CAGR in rich list:
35 (Ashok Piramal’s wife).
the same period to touch The group
Net worth: $3.25 billion
Rs 951 crore in FY2016. underwent a
For the quarter ended The Big Challenge management split
Faced: Betting big on
June 30, 2016, PEL financial services and
in 2005-06 during
reported a 36 percent making investments which the traditional
year-on-year rise in net in real estate and textiles business went
construction in a
profit to Rs 231 crore and tough macro-eco- to Urvi Piramal and
a 27 percent increase in nomic environment her sons, under the
revenues, which stood The Way Forward: Ashok Piramal Group.
at Rs 1,776 crore. The Piramal Group In 1988, Ajay
may demerge its
Investors have taken financial services and Piramal, despite
note and the Piramal health care business- being a novice to
es; aims to list its uS
Enterprises stock has subsidiary in 2018 the pharmaceuticals
jumped over four- business, decided to
fold from Rs 463.5 on bid for Nicholas Labs,
September 30, 2012 to Rs 1,836.15 which manufactured formulations,
on the same day in 2016, taking its from its parent Aspro Nicholas.
market cap on BSE to Rs 31,685 crore. He met Mike Barker, the man in
Not surprisingly, Piramal is charge of selling the company, and
the second highest gainer by both convinced him of “his dream” to
wealth and rank in the 2016 Forbes make Nicholas Labs one of the top
India Rich List. His wealth has five companies of its kind in India.
risen over 82 percent to $3.25 Barker was amused but decided
billion from $1.78 billion in 2015, in Piramal’s favour, impressed
while his rank has jumped 27 by his honesty and ambition.
places to 35, from 62 earlier. When Piramal acquired
This success is proof, if any was Nicholas Labs, it stood 48th in
needed, of Piramal’s strong business the Indian domestic formulations
acumen, one that has spurred a business. A decade later, it was in
regular reinvention at Piramal Group. the top five and by 2010, Nicholas
Labs was the third largest.
Constant reinvention “He [Piramal] has always been
The reinvention started as early a clear thinker and never really
as in the 1980s when 90 percent gets distracted once he decides
of the business was still textiles on something. He has also been
(Morarjee Mills) and the balance good at tapping opportunities,
“our approaCh with
shriram is different. we
are there for keeps... like
a traditional marriage.”
whether it is the Abbott or Vodafone
deal,” says elder brother Dilip
Piramal, 67, who split from the
family business in 1980 to set up a
successful luggage business through
his flagship VIP Industries.
Ajay Piramal’s reinvention
strategy continued through the
years. “By 2005, none of those old
businesses (textiles or machine
tools) were there and we were big in
pharmaceuticals and glass. We are
reinventing again, but not through
exits; this time we are bringing in
new businesses,” Piramal says, “and
this time led by financial services.”
His timing could not have been
better. By 2011, macro-economic
conditions had started to change
dramatically in India. In the
financial services industry, lending
is still dominated by state-owned
banks, but they have been crippled
by a combination of factors like
rising non-performing assets
(NPAs) and the dipping quality
of management. “Their ability to
take risks and give credit is not
what it used to be,” says Piramal.
Also, unlike the 1990s, foreign
banks—particularly since the 2008
global slowdown—are no longer
aggressively pursuing their ambition
to grow globally. In this scenario,
India has seen the rise of private
banks, non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs), microfinance
companies and small finance banks
as viable options for credit.
Financial services constituted 28
percent of PEL’s FY2016 revenues, up
from 11 percent in FY2013. The share
of health care in the same period
has come down to 54 percent from
71 percent, while revenues from the
third line of business—information
management through the US
subsidiary DRG (Decision Resources
Group)—are steady at 18 percent.
The financial services business
portfolio under PEL has jumped by
41 percent to Rs 29,410 crore for the
quarter ended June 30, 2016, from
Rs 20,870 crore in the corresponding
period a year earlier. This includes
a wholesale lending loan book of
Rs 16,112 crore, alternative assets
under management of Rs 8,715 crore
—third party funds managed by the
Piramal group for which they earn
a fee—and Rs 4,583 crore which are
investments in the Shriram Group.
These form part of the financial
services division, loosely called
Piramal Fund Management.
Piramal has also found the sweet
spot in areas like financing of land
purchases, which banks are not
allowed to do. Through alternative
assets under management, the
group has invested in 62 real
estate projects across seven cities
with 25 leading developers.
Real estate, after all, is familiar
territory for Piramal, who
has been involved in building
some of Mumbai’s landmark
properties, such as the Peninsula
Corporate Park and the erstwhile
shopping mall Crossroads.
The PEL stock has been rising
on growing conjecture that Piramal
will demerge the financial services
division from the group and
possibly list it to unlock shareholder
value. [Another industrialist
Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman
of the diversified Aditya Birla
Group, plans to demerge and list
his financial services business
in the first quarter of FY18.]
“As the [lending] book becomes
larger, investors need to understand
the break-up between financial
services and non-financial services.
Over time, we will move towards
greater transparency. We may create
a separate subsidiary for financial
services or decide to demerge
the business,” Piramal says.
He maintains that strong value
systems are core to the growth
of partnerships and goals for the
group. This is evident even in the
commercial decision he took in
2013-14 to buy into three Shriram
Group companies. In May 2013,
Piramal picked up a 9.9 percent stake
in commercial vehicle financing
giant Shriram Transport Finance;
in May 2014, 20 percent in the
financial services and insurance firm
Shriram Capital; and in June 2014,
9.9 percent in Shriram City Union
Finance, the retail finance firm.
“Their [Shriram’s] retail franchise
is very strong, which cannot be
replicated. The relationship with
their customers is unique. Their value
systems are very similar to ours,”
says Piramal. “[I am sure] that many
private equity players were interested
in them… and probably would have
given a higher valuation, but our
approach with Shriram is different.
We are there for keeps. It is like a
traditional marriage of old, and there
are no exits. You are stuck for good,
bad or ugly, therefore one must make
the most and best of the situation.”
Investors believe that it is only
a matter of time before Piramal
decides to merge his group’s financial
services with that of Shriram’s.
“It should be value accretive to
both groups of shareholders; they
have to be stronger as one than as
individual businesses. We should
add to the franchise and not dilute
it,” Piramal says. Also, going
forward, Piramal plans to add a
retail component to the PEL book,
but will not disclose more details.
Another key piece of the PEL
puzzle is the US-based DRG; its
presence in the Piramal portfolio
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 57
The 100 richesT indians
is the result of a decision taken just
after the Abbott deal, to not have all
their money in businesses that are
based in India. Piramal identified the
acquisition of DRG in 2012, which
provides research, data analytics
and consultancy in the high growth
life sciences space. “We wanted to
invest in a ‘future’ business and to
diversify risk,” explains Piramal.
At the time of the acquisition,
DRG provided data to just pharma
companies, but has now expanded to
insurance companies and hospitals.
DRG, serving 1,400 clients
worldwide with 1,057 employees,
reported a 13.4 percent jump
in revenues to Rs 1,156 crore in
FY2016. This subsidiary is set
to be listed separately in the
US in 2018, Piramal says.
strong gloBal
partnerships
The Piramal Group has been shy of
raising capital, with the chairman’s
philosophy being that one should
not dilute the value of capital if
the company is faring well.
“From 1988 till today, we would
have raised only about Rs 500
crore, but it has created more than
Rs 40,000 crore in value. If you
invested Rs 1,00,000 in 1988 and
remained with the company, the
value of that investment would be
Rs 14 crore, which works out to
a 28.5 percent CAGR over a 28-
year period, one of the highest on
a consistent basis,” Piramal says.
Strong global partnerships have
played a part in this growth story.
These could also be seen as additional
sources for capital, if and when the
Piramal Group feels the need to raise
funds. Dutch asset manager APG—a
partner with PEL—has committed
to deploy up to $1 billion in
infrastructure mezzanine investments
in India. (APG had disbursed Rs 525
crore by June 30, 2016, on which
PEL will earn management fees and
carry interest on the investments
made by APG.) Bain Capital is a
58 | forbes india december 21, 2016
partner for stressed debt investing. In
2015, private equity major Warburg
Pincus invested Rs 1,800 crore for a
minority stake in Piramal Realty.
Global investment bank
Goldman Sachs followed, with
an announcement to invest
Rs 900 crore for a small stake
in Piramal Realty as well.
Grand plans require the right
people. Consequently, while
building up the empire, Ajay
Piramal has managed to build a
robust management team to head
different verticals, which includes
Khushru Jijina who heads the
financial services business and
Jonathan Sandler who heads DRG.
Piramal’s two children, Nandini
(36) and Anand (32), are also playing
critical leadership roles: Nandini
“if you had put rs 1 lakh
in 1988 [in pel] and stayed
invested, its value would
now Be rs 14 Crore.”
oversees HR for Piramal Group and
the consumer products division, or
the over-the-counter (OTC) business,
of the health care segment. This
business, which includes brands such
as Lacto Calamine, Saridon, i-pill,
Caladryl and Ferradol, is ranked sixth
in its type in 2016 from 40th in 2008.
Prior to joining the PEL board,
Nandini was general manager
(strategic marketing) at the
group’s health care division.
“The family business, I realise,
gave me the opportunity to do
more at a young age,” she says.
Nandini’s brother Anand heads
the group’s real estate development
business, Piramal Realty.
Their presence underscores Ajay
Piramal’s belief that legacy has a role
to play even in a professionally-run
group. “I believe that the combination
of family and professionals is the
best; the family brings the long-
term vision (provided they look at
it as trustees) and professionals, the
execution skills,” he points out.
He is also happy with the
combination of businesses in the
group’s portfolio. “These are all
growth industries even for the
future. Geographically we are
well diversified too,” he says.
It is difficult to grudge Piramal’s
satisfaction at having built an empire
from a largely family-owned business.
In fact, this is what impressed
former Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS) CEO, S Ramadorai most.
“His [Piramal’s] strength has been
the ability to shift the focus from
being a family-owned business to
an institution,” says Ramadorai,
now a PEL board director.
Ramamurthy Thyagarajan, founder
of the Shriram Group, concurs:
“Businessmen go on instinct. Ajay
Piramal is one who is clear who he
wanted to work with. He is familiar
with the changing financial services
world and will lead Shriram’s
second generation forward.”
It helps, adds brother Dilip, that
“he is grounded, despite the successes.
There is no opulence, no fancy private
jets or a yacht to show. He prefers to
spend time with family and a strong
close circle of school friends.”
Staying real is a learning Ajay
Piramal has drawn from the
Bhagavad Gita: “In the concept
of trusteeship, you don’t look at
your own benefit,” he says. “You
have to look at the benefit of all
shareholders. We are known as a
value-based company. This will last…
reputation is bigger than size.”
The 100 richesT indians

( p r o f i l e s)

vik as oberoi

Karma
Work
at
by delivering as per promised quality and
timelines, vikas oberoi has transformed his
father’s small firm into india’s second-most
valued real estate developer
By Aveek DAttA
 vikas Oberoi, chairman
and MD of Oberoi
Realty, believes that
honesty is not just a
virtue but also a good
business strategy

JOshuA NAvAlkAR

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 61

The 100 richesT indians

O
n a hot October day
in 2015, around 400
people queued up in
Borivali, in Mumbai’s
western suburbs. No,
they weren’t tech
enthusiasts lined up in front of an
Apple store to lay their hands on the
latest iPhone. They were prospective
home buyers, waiting outside a
real estate developer’s sales office.
Mumbai-based Oberoi Realty had just
launched the sale of its new residential to do,” says Oberoi, who, in 2007,
project, Oberoi Sky City, in the area,
and they had turned up in droves.
No mean feat for a project that
carries a minimum price tag of
Rs 2.5 crore for an apartment.
Not to mention the fact that
four of the 10 residential towers
planned were launched for sale,
projects, despite a general slowdown
in Mumbai’s residential real estate
market, is noteworthy. Is there a
secret sauce, Forbes India asks Vikas
Oberoi, the company’s 46-year-old
chairman and managing director.
“Karma,” he says, referring to the
spiritual principle that means that
the intent and action of an individual
influence his future. “One can use the
principles of karma to build a better
brand and that is what we have tried
took over the reins of the company
started by his father Ranvir Oberoi.
His philosophy is simple—when you
have good intentions, and deliver on
promises, results follow. “We have
been in the business for close to three
decades and have been very consistent
in delivering our projects according
21.42 percent to close at Rs 321.55
per share on the BSE on October
10. In comparison, the benchmark
S&P BSE Sensex gained a modest
4.37 percent over the same period.
With a current market capitalisation
of Rs 10,913 crore, Oberoi Realty is
India’s second most valued real estate
company behind DLF—a noteworthy
achievement considering the
developer only operates in Mumbai.
The company reported its
highest-ever turnover in FY16
at Rs 1,444.30 crore, up by 53.6
percent over the previous year. Its
net profit in the same period rose
by 34.3 percent to Rs 425.91 crore.
Its operating profit margin stood
at a robust 48.72 percent in the last
fiscal, though it was down from the
56.51 percent it reported in FY15.

T
and in less than a year, 80 percent to the timelines and quality promised.
of the inventory of these four We put our customers at the heart hough a second-generation
towers has already been sold. of our business and listen to them, business leader, Oberoi
“This is commendable in a scenario study them, and predict their needs has run his company
where the overall Mumbai property before they can articulate them.” with the mindset of a
market remains sluggish, with most An alumnus of the Owner/ first-generation entrepreneur; and
developers struggling to generate a President Management programme that probably has a lot to do with
good response to new launches,” says at Harvard Business School, Oberoi his keen interest in real estate.
Adhidev Chattopadhyay, an analyst has used the karma principle as In the ’70s and ’80s, Oberoi’s
with Elara Capital, in the bedrock of his father was an investor in Mumbai’s
a research note dated at a glance approach. It seems to real estate market, buying and selling
March 3, 2016. At that Vikas OberOi have worked. Oberoi apartments for a profit. In the process,
time, the inventory Chairman and MD, has seen his personal he struck up friendships with several
of unsold residential Oberoi Realty fortune soar enough real estate developers and honed
property in Mumbai had age: 46 for him to make a his understanding of the sector.
built up to 55 months comeback to the 2016 Ranvir Oberoi then decided to turn
of supply, according rank in the Forbes India Rich developer himself. He liquidated
rich List: 89
to the Elara report. List. Oberoi is ranked all his investments in realty and
The response to Net worth: $1.45 billion 89th, with a personal started purchasing land instead.
the Borivali project The big Challenge
net worth of $1.45 “It wasn’t easy for him and it
wasn’t a one-off. A few Faced: to help Oberoi billion. He ranked 84th took around eight to ten years for
months before Sky City, Realty maintain in the 2014 edition him to build just two buildings
sales momentum in
in January 2015, the Mumbai’s subdued of the list, but didn’t (both in Andheri West),” says
developer had launched residential real estate make the cut in 2015. Oberoi. “But he set the platform.”
market. Oberoi has
a residential project of been able to achieve By virtue of his 72.54 And Oberoi took to it all early.
twin towers in Mumbai’s that by delivering on percent holding in the At 17, after attending classes at
time and meeting
eastern suburb of quality commitments company, Oberoi’s Mumbai’s Jai Hind College—where
Mulund. Oberoi Realty made to customers personal wealth has he was studying commerce—Oberoi
has sold 80 percent of The Way Forward: risen in tandem with would join his father by afternoon
the inventory it launched Will look to improve an increase in the share at his Nariman Point office. He
sales and exhaust all
for sale there as well. inventory at projects prices of Oberoi Realty observed, learnt and assisted his
This sustained ability being marketed over the last one year— father for two decades, before taking
to generate sales at new its stock price rose by over the reins of the company.

62 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 One of the earliest projects Oberoi
worked closely on was in 2002,
when the company successfully bid
to acquire a 60-acre land parcel in
Goregaon from pharmaceuticals
company Novartis for Rs 107 crore.
That plot has now been converted into
Oberoi Realty’s signature development
in Mumbai—Oberoi Garden City, a
swanky residential-cum-commercial
township which houses residential
towers, a mall, two office buildings,
a five-star hotel and a school.
It proved to be a business
decision that the company is
still reaping dividends from, as
it continues to construct and sell
new residential towers at this
township. A new office space called
Commerz II is also ready, with global
MNCs like Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries set to move in.
The next big achievement for
Oberoi and his company came when,
in 2007, it managed to secure an
investment of Rs 675 crore—for a
10.75 percent stake in Oberoi Realty
—from Morgan Stanley’s real estate
investment arm. This was one of the
earliest and largest foreign direct
investments in the country’s real
estate sector. The company followed
this up with an IPO in 2010, through
which it raised Rs 1,000 crore.
Cut to the present and Oberoi
Realty has developed 39 projects
across the city and delivered 9.18
million sq ft of real estate. It has
another 20.61 million sq ft under
development. This, when fully
developed, has the potential to
deliver a topline of Rs 25,000
crore and a net profit of Rs 12,000
crore for the company over the
next five years, says Oberoi.
Oberoi attributes the present
success of Oberoi Realty to the
basics of business that he learnt
from his father. “Whatever we do
Getty IMAGes

are derivatives of the fundamentals

that he taught,” says Oberoi.
“He was a big believer in not
compromising on quality, being
vikas Oberoi with wife Gayatri fair to customers and listening to

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 63

The 100 richesT indians
them and improving operations.”
By believing that honesty is not
only a virtue but “good business
strategy as well”, he says, Oberoi
Realty has been able to build
credibility with stakeholders.
For instance, he adds, Oberoi
Realty brings a real estate project
into the market only when all the
necessary approvals are in place;
and the cash flow that it generates
from a project are first utilised
towards the completion of that
particular development. Which is
why Oberoi Realty isn’t affected by
the new Real Estate (Regulation and
Development) Act that was passed
by Parliament in May this year. The
landmark piece of legislation, enacted
by lawmakers to bring transparency
oberoi realty reported
its highest-ever turnover
in Fy16 at rs 1,444.30 crore,
up by 53.6% over a year ago
to the real estate sector and protect
the interests of investors, is likely to
choke supply in the market as projects
that don’t have all approvals in place
cannot be marketed any longer.
“Uncertainty over regulations
and several stuck projects have
polarised demand towards reputed
developers such as Oberoi Realty
with a good execution track
record,” says Kunal Lakhan, vice
president, realty, at Axis Capital, in
a research report dated August 22.
Not just customers, the efficient
execution of a simple business model
ensures that Oberoi Realty wins
over lenders as well. As recently
as in the first quarter of fiscal
2017, Incline Realty Private Ltd (a
wholly owned subsidiary of Oberoi
Realty) placed a new series of non-
convertible debentures to raise Rs
750 crore at an impressive interest
rate of 9.25 percent per annum.
64 | forbes india december 21, 2016
“We got the debt real cheap. The
interest rate at which we raised
this money is similar to the cost at
which many non-banking financial
institutions raise money, just to lend
it onwards,” Oberoi points out.
This is good news for the company
since it is firming up its expansion
strategy and may need to raise funds
again. “With a healthy balance
sheet, Oberoi Realty is well-poised
to capitalise on opportunistic land
deals,” the Axis Capital report says.
On the cards is a project being
developed in Mumbai’s upscale
Worli area called Three Sixty West;
this is intended to be a confluence
of super-premium residences and a
five-star hotel, both to be managed
by Ritz-Carlton. Oberoi, who has
involved himself personally to ensure
the success of this marquee project
that can potentially generate $2 billion
in sales, delayed bringing it into the
market, despite having invested
close to Rs 1,450 crore towards its
development thus far. He wanted
the apartments there to speak for
themselves and therefore waited for
the sample flat to be ready so that
buyers would not need to rely on
an artist’s impression. Since hitting
the market in May 2016, sales from
this project have taken off with
meaningful velocity—apartments
worth Rs 237 crore have been sold
in the April-June quarter alone.
The successes of Three Sixty
West and the Borivali and Mulund
projects “speak volumes about the
company’s brand equity, product
attractiveness and cash flow
strength,” a Motilal Oswal research
report dated August 22 says.
Not far from Three Sixty West is
another plot of land in Worli, which
Oberoi Realty had acquired from
pharmaceutical company Glaxo in
2003. After several alterations in the
planned end-use of that land parcel,
Oberoi Realty has decided to put up
a mall there, says Oberoi. This may
prove to be an alternative to the
only other shopping mall between
Nariman Point and Andheri in the
western suburbs: The very successful
High Street Phoenix in Lower Parel.
Oberoi Realty’s experience of
developing and operating shopping
malls has been promising as malls
are a high margin business, and
its mall in Goregaon clocked a
turnover of Rs 94 crore in FY16, 95
percent of which went straight to
the company’s operating profits.
“We will seriously explore new
lines of business at Oberoi Realty
such as development of more
shopping malls, schools and
health care facilities and some
of these may become big chains
in the future,” says Oberoi.
Even in its existing residential
real estate business, the scope for
upside is significant. This is because
the company is yet to recognise a
major portion of the revenues that
it has already earned on account of
apartments sold, in its profit and loss
statement. Every residential project
needs to meet a certain threshold
linked to proportion of sales and
construction costs, before revenues
generated from it can be recognised
in a developer’s income statement.
As on June 30, the booking value
of houses sold by Oberoi Realty
totals Rs 9,280 crore, of which it has
recognised sales of only Rs 4,859
crore on its books. The remaining
portion will reflect in the company’s
topline over the ensuing quarters.
Plus there are other developments
that aren’t in the public domain.
“There are a lot of agreements
that we have signed that we don’t
speak of till plans crystallise
further,” Oberoi says.
The 100 richesT indians

( p r o f i l e s)

azim premji

A Custodian of Wealth
wipro’s azim premji has never been swayed by money—
what energises him is the good he can do with it
By HaricHandan arakali

A
sk Abidali
Neemuchwala, who
took charge as CEO of
Wipro Ltd in February,
what he likes most
about the company
and quick comes the reply: “It is
built on a strong set of values.” The
response reveals much about Wipro,
the man who built it, the people he
picks to run the company and those
who choose to work with him.
Azim Premji, who completed 50
years at the helm of the software
services firm this year, has been a
constant presence in Forbes India’s
annual ranking of India’s
richest billionaires: In the
at a glance
2016 Forbes India Rich
Azim Premji
as the chief strategy officer and a
member of the board at Wipro. “He
is the most organised, structured
and detail-oriented person I have
known, and is willing to learn from
people across all levels, both within
and outside the organisation.”
These traits have helped Premji
grow Wipro from his family’s
vegetable oil-making business—the
company started off as Western
India Vegetable Products Ltd in
1945, in Amalner, Maharashtra—to
India’s third largest software services
company. Over the last 15 years, the
Bengaluru-based company’s business
has grown 25 times,
touching revenues of
$7.7 billion for the year
abilities. He took the hard decision
to end the dual-CEO model in
2011 and brought in TK Kurien to
head the firm after the company
began to lose ground to rivals like
Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Kurien is currently executive
vice chairman of Wipro.
Neemuchwala is the latest chief
executive tasked with getting Wipro’s
growth rate to match peers after
some large bets, prominently in the
energy and utilities vertical, failed to
deliver mainly due to macroeconomic
conditions (low oil prices and
cooling demand in China). As of
September 30, Wipro’s stock had
fallen by 14.89 percent in 2016, which
explains Premji’s wealth erosion.

List, he’s at number 4, one
rank and $900 million
down from last year, with
a net worth of $15 billion.
Neemuchwala’s idea
of Wipro finds resonance
with those who have
known Premji more
intimately and for longer.
His immediate family
members and employees
who’ve worked with
him for decades say
wealth sits lightly on
his shoulders. Premji,
71, who has committed
to giving away much of
his fortune, still retains
the humility to learn.
“He has no ego,”
says Premji’s eldest
son Rishad, who serves
Wipro chairman
Age: 71
rank in the
rich List: 4 Along the way,
Net worth: $15 billion
The Big Challenge
Faced: Pushing Wipro
to raise its game to
return to industry-
leading growth even
as rivals compete
aggressively and
customers shift to
cloud computing
The Way Forward:
Wipro is overhauling
itself to become a
leader in the digital
era, harnessing
artificial intelligence
and automation to
raise its strategic
relevance to its
biggest customers
P
ended March 31, 2016.
The company’s 170,000 remji also captains the
employees serve clients privately-held Wipro
in six continents. Enterprises, which comprises
a consumer care and lighting
Premji—who serves business, a hydraulics equipments
as Wipro’s chairman business and two joint ventures—
and owns close to with General Electric Corp for
three-quarters of the medical equipment and Japan’s
firm—has demonstrated Kawasaki for precision machinery.
that he is willing Wipro Enterprises reported
to experiment and revenues of Rs 6,868 crore for the
is unafraid to take fiscal year ended March 2015.
tough decisions “I think what drives him, at a
when necessary. A stage when most others would have
case in point is his started slowing down, is that he still
appointment of Girish wakes up each day thinking, ‘Wipro
Paranjpe and Suresh can be a better company than it was
Vaswani as co-CEOs yesterday’,” says Pratik Kumar, chief
in 2008 to tap what executive of Wipro Infrastructure
was widely seen as the Engineering, part of Wipro
duo’s complementary Enterprises. Kumar has been working

66 | forbes india december 21, 2016


with Premji for about 15 years and
was the global head of HR at Wipro
Ltd before his current assignment.
“When I was a youngster in the
company, what struck me was that he
[Premji] was passionate about Wipro…
that might be true for other leaders
too, but he stood out due to the sheer
intensity [of his passion],” says Kumar.
“For us, it was our first exposure to
someone like Premji and it had an
impact on our own formative years.”
It could be Premji’s influence on
the young minds he mentors that make
them stick with him. Suresh Senapaty,
for instance, stepped down as Wipro’s
Wipro chairman azim
Premji has not shied
away from taking
tough decisions
when necessary
chief financial officer a year ago after
35 years at the company, but remains
an advisor to Premji. “I first met Mr
Premji when I was interviewed for
a job at Wipro. The then 35-year-
old managing director spent half a
day with me,” recalls Senapaty. “I
was amazed by his curiosity, the
attention he paid to details and the
sheer patience and energy he had.”
A
fter gradually stepping
down from the day-to-day
operations of Wipro by
2011, Premji has avoided
interactions with the media, but
continues to be engaged. With his
personal money, he established the
Azim Premji University in Bengaluru
in 2010. The university focuses on
churning out high-calibre academics
and teachers. He also owns Premji
Invest, a private- and venture capital
firm that is backing promising startups
in multiple verticals. Premji Invest
holds shares in both public and private
companies, including ABG Shipyard
and Healthcare Global. He has also
set up the Azim Premji Philanthropic
Initiatives to support social causes.
Of his earliest memories of his
father at work, Rishad says: “I
distinctly remember my father
spending a lot of time at his desk at
home and working through tonnes of
files filled with notes and documents.
I also recall how he would regularly
ask my brother [Tariq] and me to
file away all the documents.”
Tariq now works at Azim Premji
Foundation, the philanthropic
organisation that Premji established
with wife Yasmeen in 2010,
pledging $2 billion for improving
school education in India.
Half a century after he cut short
his Stanford education, upon his
father’s demise, to take on the family
business, Premji continues to be a
workaholic. (He returned to Stanford
to complete his degree in 2001).
“That he still ‘comes to office’ is a
very mild way of putting it,” says
Rishad. “He may still be among the
hardest working people at Wipro. I PHotograPHs: namas BHojani for forBes india
have not seen anyone sustain the kind
of work ethic and drive that he has,
over such a long time. Perhaps my
grandmother has been an influence;
she ran her charitable hospital
with the same energy, way past the
age when most people retire.”
There are two important facets
to Premji senior’s personality,
says Rishad. The first is that he
has built a large, well-respected
business organisation on a bedrock
of integrity. “The commitment to
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 67
The 100 richesT indians
rishad Premji says
his father is among
the hardest working
people at Wipro with an
inspirational work ethic
the ‘Spirit of Wipro’ [the values of
the firm] is the soul of the company.
I think he would be proud that he
has been able to play by the rules
and still succeed,” says Rishad.
This is not to say that there have
been no blots in Wipro’s history.
Premji has faced adversities while
ensuring Wipro’s values were
unsullied. In January 2009, it
emerged that the company had been
barred from doing any work with the
World Bank for four years starting
June 2007, for allotting shares to
some of the bank’s employees.
Premji sent an email to all
employees, reiterating that the
company had done nothing wrong.
Wipro argued that the allotment was
68 | forbes india december 21, 2016
not illegal under US laws, nor was it
unethical, and had been done above
board with inputs received from its
financial and legal advisors when the
company listed American Depository
Receipts in 2000, according to a
media report. That didn’t stop the
company’s shares in Mumbai tanking
by nearly 10 percent on the day these
matters came to light. Some analysts
and investors questioned why Wipro
hadn’t disclosed them earlier.
That the bank chose to disclose
the information shortly after the
accounting fraud at Satyam Computer
came to light added to the panic.
The World Bank said the Satyam
fiasco triggered the disclosure
of all vendors facing a bar.
Another incident points to
how deeply Premji values ethical
behaviour. He is said to have told
reporters in 2005 that he refused to
allow Rishad the use of a company
guest house in London, when his
son was working for the consultancy
Bain & Company in Britain. Premji
pointed out that Rishad was not an
employee at the time and hence not
entitled to use the company property.
“As a promoter, he has been
uncompromising on integrity and
has maintained the highest degree of
corporate governance,” says Senapaty.
“He feels personally responsible
for the fiduciary custodianship of
wealth, a substantial portion of which
is set aside for social purposes.”
That is the second facet of Premji’s
personality that Rishad points to.
Premji’s approach to seeing a better
India and acting on it involves
“creating and building institutions
that will hopefully continue to
contribute for generations to come”.
The secret to what pushes Premji
to work incredibly hard is the
implication of Wipro’s success: “I
think Wipro is his life. He loves it
and cares for it as if it were his child,”
Rishad points out. “I think, as he has
gotten older, he is very energised by
the fact that the success of Wipro
could have a great impact on his
philanthropic work. He feels deeply
about how privileged and lucky he has
been and is very focussed on doing
all he can to give back [to society].”
Senapaty points to the everyday
manifestation of that: The frugality
that Premji is known for—climbing
stairs and flying economy whenever he
can. “From early on, he has believed
that he is a mere trustee of his wealth
rather than the owner,” says Senapaty.
“It is unique that he does not hesitate
to make a $100 million investment;
but at the same time, he wouldn’t like
it if an employee forgets to switch
off the lights when leaving a room.”
After all, for Premji, a
penny saved is a penny earned
(for philanthropy).
 The 100 richesT indians

( p r o f i l e s)

r a j e s h m e h ta

Rajesh mehta, founder

and executive chairman
of Rajesh exports Ltd,
wanted to become a
Bmaximage

doctor till he realised

that the jewellery
business was his calling

70 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 The Gold Rush
it would be hard to identify rajesh exports as a business
that started with a mere r s 1,200. but rajesh mehta,
founder and executive chairman of his eponymous
gold export company, was never short of ideas
W
hat was to be
a 30-minute
meeting with
Rajesh Mehta,
founder and
executive
chairman of Rajesh Exports Ltd, went
on for 180 minutes. While the 52-year-
old had much to talk about where his
India-listed company is concerned—it
exported almost 130 tonnes of gold
last fiscal and refines nearly 35 percent
of the total gold mined in the world—
he was equally inundated with phone
calls and impromptu meetings with
company executives and clients.
Mehta’s small corner office, on the
first floor of Batavia Chambers on
Kumara Krupa Road in Bengaluru,
near the official residence of
Karnataka’s chief minister, is dimly
lit. His large and heavy worktable
occupies most of the space. On one
side of the table top are numerous
statues of Lord Ganesha, worshipped
as the remover of obstacles and also
considered the god of intellect and
wisdom. There are more than 300
Ganesha idols, clarifies Mehta; some
are made from silver, gold and ivory,
while others are studded with rubies
and opals. “We [my family] are Jains,
and we believe in Ganesha. He is
an auspicious god,” says Mehta.
Six minutes into our meeting,
Mehta excuses himself and picks
up one of his four mobile phones.
Only one of these is a smartphone
(an iPhone 4 series from 2010-11),
while the rest are mid-priced feature
By anshuL Dhamija
phones. His conversation is in
Gujarati. Minutes later, he answers
another call, on another phone,
where he breaks into fluent Kannada.
Mehta claims to be conversant in
four other Indian languages as well.
Mehta has amassed a personal
fortune of $1.88 billion after starting
his company Rajesh Exports in 1989,
along with his elder brother Prashant
Balance sheet
Consolidated revenue
(FY16)
Rs 1.65 lakh crore
(india business accounted for
Rs 40,000 crore)
growth in revenue
over previous fiscal
227.39%
net profit
Rs 1,066.7 crore
growth in profit
over previous fiscal
62.88%
share price
(as on september 22)
Rs 472.55
(down 15% from last september)
Mehta, 54, who is managing director
of the company. What started off as a
gold export business—in the years that
India was under The Gold (Control)
Act of 1968—has grown manifold to
include mining, refining and retailing
of the precious metal. In July 2015,
Mehta bought the Valcambi gold
refinery in Switzerland, one of the
largest gold refineries in the world,
in an-all cash deal for $400 million.
Even after the big-ticket acquisition,
Rajesh Exports has cash reserves
and surplus of $405 million.
The Valcambi acquisition,
while bolstering Rajesh Exports’
consolidated turnover by Rs 1 lakh
crore, has also added to Mehta’s
ballooning personal wealth. In the
2015 Forbes India Rich List, he
ranked 65th, with a personal wealth
of $1.7 billion, rising 23 places since
the previous year. Over the last 12
months, despite a fall in share price
(see box), his wealth has increased
by 11 percent (which amounts to
$180 million), pushing up his rank
a further four notches to No 61 on
the 2016 Forbes India Rich List.
But Mehta is shy of flaunting his
wealth. He prefers to travel in the
ubiquitous multi-purpose vehicle
Toyota Innova—a popular car in the
taxi industry—rather than a bullet-
proof Mercedes-Benz or Rolls-Royce.
He also prefers regular commercial
flights to a private jet. “I don’t want
to buy something just for the purpose
of showing off. The day a private jet
becomes an absolutely necessity,
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 71
The 100 richesT indians

without which I cannot survive, 64, Prashant, Rajesh and Mahesh, 44— In effect, the brothers were trading
only then will I look at it,” he says. he chose to name his business after in jewellery designs of different
The only time when Mehta his third-born. “An astrologer from ethnic Indian cultures. “We used
splurged on a trophy asset, and Bengaluru told my father that this boy to take the southern designs and
grabbed headlines, was in late 2011, [Rajesh] will give you the maximum popularise them in Gujarat, and
when he bought the iconic Brindavan benefit,” recalls Mehta. Since then, vice versa,” says Mehta. “It was
Hotel property in Bengaluru’s all business ventures by the family like idlis being sold in Gujarat; they
central business district of MG have been named after Rajesh Mehta. may not become a staple diet, but
Road. Mehta forked out close to However, Mehta was never groomed they will become a fancy food item,
Rs 100 crore for the property that to take over the family business. which will be had once in a while.”
stands on less than an acre, with “Rajesh was brilliant in studies Soon, the brothers were trading
plans to build a family home. and his goal was to become a doctor, in jewellery worth Rs 1 lakh and the
“He [Rajesh] has been a raging as our family wanted him to become business was formalised under an
bull in the gems and jewellery export one,” says Prashant, who has been entity called Rajesh Art Jewellers.
sector,” says C Vinod Hayagriv, working alongside Mehta since The business was further bolstered by
managing director of C Krishniah 1982. “He is a thinker and plans for their decision to barter their goods.
Chetty & Sons Pvt Ltd, a leading the future. I’m into execution.” “We used to barter the Bengaluru
heritage jewellery But instead of goods for the Rajkot goods and
retailer in Bengaluru. at a glance pursuing medical vice-versa,” recalls Prashant. The
But despite Mehta’s education, Mehta, who barter network was then extended,
Rajesh Mehta
success in the gold trade, Founder and
didn’t even join college whereby jewellery from Rajkot was
he has faced his share executive chairman of after completing his exchanged for that made in Mumbai,
Rajesh exports Ltd
of adversity. There are schooling, believed which in turn was bartered for
multiple reports that age: 52 that the jewellery jewellery from Hyderabad. “With
detail how various state business would be his every barter cycle, we would increase
Rank in the
authorities have raided Rich List: 61 calling. “Most people our capital base by 50 percent,” says
the company premises in my community are Prashant, adding that Mehta and he
with regard to cases of Net worth: $1.88 billion in some business or would take turns to sleep while on
tax evasion, and have the Big Challenge the other. Somewhere long bus journeys between cities.
questioned its trade- Faced: acquiring the this fact did play on “All our capital was in our bag.”
Valcambi gold refin-
related activities. Mehta, ery and integrating it my mind,” he admits.
however, maintains that with the company The two brothers, GoinG for Gold
the company is above however, did not see But silver jewellery was not as
the Way Forward:
board and transparent in To become a gold a future in scaling attractive as gold and the Mehta
all its business activities. retail behemoth up their father’s brothers were hungry for more.
“Their [Rajesh Exports’] business. Instead, By the end of 1984, they got a
chequered history has they approached licence under The Gold (Control)
been intriguing,” adds Hayagriv, their eldest brother Bipin, who Act of 1968 to trade in gold
who is also the chairman of the legal was working in a bank, for a loan jewellery. However, Mehta had
committee of the All India Gems of Rs 1,200 to start trading in silver bigger dreams: He wanted to set
& Jewellery Trade Federation. jewellery. With this money, they up a manufacturing facility of his
went to Chennai and bought the own, rather than just trade in gold
layinG the foundation jewellery. “We took this to Rajkot jewellery. There was, however,
Mehta’s parents had relocated from and sold it to our relatives,” says a roadblock to his aspirations.
their hometown Rajkot in Gujarat Mehta, recounting how they made a Under The Gold (Control) Act,
to Bengaluru in 1946-47. His father neat profit by selling their stock for no company could buy, store, and
Jaswantrai Mehta traded in semi- Rs 3,500. Slowly, their focus shifted manufacture gold for domestic
precious stones, and was working from selling jewellery to relatives to consumption. [The manufacturing of
for his cousin in Gujarat. About 25 selling it to retailers and wholesalers gold in the country at that time was
years later, he branched out on his in Gujarat. But that wasn’t enough. largely in the unorganised sector,
own and set up Rajesh Diamond With the money they earned, they where the metal was either recycled
Company, which continued to bought silver jewellery from Gujarat or smuggled. The Act was repealed
trade in semi-precious stones. to sell to retailers and wholesalers in in 1990.] But Mehta found a way
Despite having four sons—Bipin, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. out: “If you wanted to export, you

72 | forbes india december 21, 2016

could manufacture in India. The
Reserve Bank of India would give you
gold, which could be manufactured
for exports only.” He grabbed the
opportunity, and in 1989, set up a
small manufacturing facility with
around 10 workers in the garage of
his home in RT Nagar, Bengaluru.
This was the birth of Rajesh
Exports. By 1992, the firm’s export
business was Rs 2 crore, with markets
in the United Kingdom, Dubai, Oman,
Kuwait, the US, and Europe. In 1990,
the company also set up a standalone
retail store branded as Rajesh Jewels,
in Batavia Chambers, which now
houses Rajesh Exports’ head office.
In the last three years, the store has
changed to a new brand identity of
Shubh Jewellers. Currently, there
are 80 Shubh stores in Karnataka.
“Expansion is in our blood. We
can’t sit quiet, we are always doing
something,” says Mehta, who took the
company public in 1995 and raised Rs
“he [rajesh mehta] always thinks out
of the box... his vision is five-fold.”
10 crore. By this time, the company’s
export business had grown to Rs 35
crore. By 1998, exports had reached
Rs 120 crore. Once again Mehta had
a bigger vision for the company: To
build a 250-tonne manufacturing
unit in Bengaluru. “He always thinks
out of the box,” says Prashant, who
was not convinced about setting up
such a large unit. But the company
operationalised the facility in 2001-
02, on a 10-acre plot in Whitefield,
now a major IT suburb of Bengaluru.
As of today, only half of the
facility’s installed capacity is being
utilised. Mehta says he built it
with a 20-year vision in mind.
Over the years, the facility has
seen the addition of a research and
development unit that focuses on
jewellery designs, new manufacturing
methods, and saving waste. A
machine manufacturing unit has
also been set up on the campus.
Looking back, Prashant says,
“This facility has been our trump
card and has changed our fortune.”
Because of its size, he adds, “we are
able to deliver orders very fast and
build large wholesaling capacities
across the world.” After a year of
the facility becoming operational,
revenue catapulted to Rs 1,000
crore from Rs 200 crore. In 2007-
08, the company set up another
manufacturing unit, with an installed
capacity of 100 tonnes per annum
in a special economic zone in
Kochi. And in 2013, it set up a gold
refining facility in Uttarakhand.
Put together, the Uttarakhand and
Valcambi facilities can refine over
2,400 tonnes of gold a year. “I used
to question his decisions earlier,
but now I have stopped. His vision
is five-fold, and he has never gone
back on his words,” says Prashant.
future perfect?
“Over the next 10 to 12 years, we are
confident that our retail business,
which is 1 percent [of consolidated
revenue] now, will constitute around
90 percent of our total turnover,”
says Mehta, who is aiming to open
2,500 stores across India within that
time. He is also looking to roll out an
ecommerce retail venture for gold
jewellery in a year from now. Besides,
plans are afoot to enter the airport
duty-free retailing sector. “Our net
profit margins are about 0.70 percent
and we are working towards a 15-fold
jump, which we are going to achieve
through retail,” is all that he says about
his plans. The company’s end-to-end
capabilities—from mining operations
in Africa to retailing—are definitely an
advantage in offering better prices.
Their mining capabilities, which
are expected to increase, give them
access to raw material at cost price;
their refining capabilities ensure
negligible premium on refined gold;
and their manufacturing capabilities
ensure zero wastage costs. So, if
rivals are selling jewellery at a 25
percent premium, Rajesh Exports is
in a position to disrupt the market.
According to Hayagriv, one
weakness of the company has been that
it, “has excelled and has grown on the
borderline of regulation exceptions.”
Hence, he says, “A transformation to
mainline will help the company.”
But brand expert Raghu B
Viswanath believes Shubh has not
made much headway in jewellery
retail in the last four years. “I would
still say that it is a larger mom-and-
pop store rather than saying that he
[Rajesh Mehta] owns a retail brand of
reckoning,” says Viswanath, chairman
of Vertebrand, a brand value advisory
and marketing consultancy firm.
There are many commodity players
in India who have entered the retail
arena of late. Although retail has given
them visibility, their personal wealth
continues to be generated mainly from
their core trading activities. “For me,
a successful entrepreneur is not one
who has been very smart in business
deals and therefore has created a lot
of personal wealth,” says Viswanath.
“A successful entrepreneur is one who
has built an institution and a legacy.”
Does that not make Rajesh Mehta
a great entrepreneur? “Time will
tell,” adds Viswanath. “He’s young,
his retail venture is just four years
old, so one has to wait and watch.”
This, of course, is in today’s
context. One year from now,
the narrative could completely
change, given Mehta’s penchant
for thinking out of the box.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 73
 The 100 richesT indians
( i n t e r v i e w)
n r n a r aya n a m u r t h y
‘Nothing Lacking
in Indian Startup
Entrepreneurs’
high valuations of new businesses are a
byproduct of the free market mechansism,
says infosys co-founder nr narayana murthy
O
By DeBojyoti Ghosh
ne of India’s
most celebrated
entrepreneurial minds,
NR Narayana Murthy
co-founded the $9.5
billion information
technology (IT) giant Infosys in 1981.
Since then, the self-made billionaire
(his estimated net worth is $1.87
billion, putting him at No 62 on the
2016 Forbes India Rich List) has had
an accomplished journey as a business
leader. He led Infosys as its chief
executive for over two decades, until
2002. Then, after relinquishing his
executive role for almost a decade,
Murthy returned as executive
chairman of the Bengaluru-based IT
major in 2013, only to step down a year
later when he exited the board as well.
The company he co-founded has
not only created lakhs of jobs, but also
made several of its staffers millionaires
through its employee stock option
plan. As he once said in an address,
“Wealth—financial, intellectual, or
emotional—must be shared.” Apart
from being chairman of Catamaran
Management Services Pvt Ltd, the
venture capital fund he founded in
September 2009, the 70-year-old
now divides his time between his
engagements, including being on
74 | forbes india december 21, 2016
the boards of the Ford Foundation,
the United Nations Foundation, the
Rhodes Trust (University of Oxford)
and chairing the Public Health
Foundation of India. He is also a
trustee of the board of the Infosys
Science Foundation, a not-for-profit
trust that aims to encourage the culture
of science and research in the country.
Apart from being actively involved
in these initiatives, the avid reader
and lover of Western and Indian
classical music is looking forward “to
a peaceful, healthy and happy life”.
In an interview to Forbes India, the
recipient of the Padma Vibhushan
spoke on a range of subjects: India’s
burgeoning startup culture, the
changing dynamics of the workforce in
the IT industry and how the education
system needs to be more receptive
to newer ideas. Edited excerpts:
Q How do you perceive the current
entrepreneurship scene in India? Is
it in good hands and going beyond
the traditional business groups?
The Indian entrepreneurship scene
today is a lot better than what it was in
2000, which was better than what it
was in the ’80s and ’90s. Today, there
is considerable confidence among
youngsters. They are coming up with
 infosys co-founder
nr narayana murthy
says the new breed
of entrepreneurs is
smart and energetic

selvaprakash lakshmanan for forBes inDia

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 75

The 100 richesT indians

new ideas. Of course, most of the system, so that together we can create and markets to absorb new ideas and
ideas come from the West but, by and a large number of jobs that leads to technologies to derive competitive
large, there is high enthusiasm and higher disposable income among the advantage for growing faster and
energy among young entrepreneurs. lower middle-class and the poor. This, profitably. On the one hand, we have
Also, the fact that venture capital in turn, creates a large market for to improve the education system
(VC) funding is available in plenty has entrepreneurs to address the needs of in the country to provide a strong
added to this enthusiasm. Certainly, I the masses. Till such change happens, foundation to youngsters, while on
think the financial and retail sectors it will be a theoretical exercise. the other, we have to become like the
have attracted the largest chunk of US, where ideas are lapped up by large
VC money. There is also considerable Q You co-founded Infosys in the enterprises for gaining competitive
investment in new models of health early ’80s and helped build it advantage. That’s why Silicon Valley
care and education. Overall, I see from scratch. Today, Infosys is succeeds better than any other
the entrepreneurship scene as India’s second-largest software place in Europe, Japan and China.
healthy and promising in India. services company. How do you see
the change in the way business is Q In the last few years, the Indian
Q Today, most of the successful done today, when companies claim IT industry has been vocal about
startup ideas are inspired from valuations of multibillion dollars the adoption of newer technologies
the West. Why are we in less than a decade? (Artificial Intelligence, machine
not seeing more of at a glance Who am I to comment learning, automation) and how
innovative startups NR NaRayaNa pejoratively on those they are changing the way
looking to solve India’s MuRthy issues? The beauty of a software-services companies
infosys co-founder
mass problems? free-market mechanism work. Though large players such
I can understand that age: 70 is that there is a seller as TCS, Infosys and Wipro are
because there is not much and a buyer. As long training their employees to adapt
Rank in the
of a market in areas where Rich List:
62 as those transactions to the change, do you feel the
someone is addressing are done in a fair and companies are doing enough?
Net worth: $1.87 billion
concerns of the poor transparent manner, I think being open to the outside
people [a large chunk of the Big Challenge both the parties are world, which has made better
India’s population]. They Faced: “there isn’t happy. One of the laws progress than us, and learning from
any. i don’t run any
don’t have that much business. i don’t do of economics is that it is always a good idea. Therefore,
of disposable income anything worthwhile in any exchange, both I’m quite happy about the various
in that sense.”
to access the market, the parties should be training initiatives that companies
which restricts the the Way Forward: happy, otherwise there like Infosys are taking to make their
to lead a peaceful
scalability of business. and healthy life will be no exchange. employees learn from industry experts
That’s why not too many Therefore, I’m not and professors from top universities
startup entrepreneurs anybody to judge if the globally. This will help Infosys and
want to go into areas where there is valuation by some venture capital firm the overall IT industry in general.
less market opportunity. They want of some startup company is high or But, the impact will be specific to a
to explore markets like electronic low. If I don’t like it, I will not invest company and an industry. In order
commerce, urban transportation in it. The new breed of entrepreneurs to do it on a large scale, we need to
services such as Uber, online is smart and has convinced evolve our own education system and
health care and education services. investors, who have consequently prepare youngsters for the job market.
There’s nothing wrong in that. invested in those companies. The education system has to be
revamped, starting from primary
Q Do you feel the lack of Q Often, the Indian startup school up to the graduate level.
investor backing for such ecosystem is compared to Silicon Unfortunately, our education
ventures restricts startups? Valley. Has India managed to system, due to various reasons, is
Which investor would try to put his or build a startup culture like in still far behind compared to the
her money into ventures where there the West or do we need to bridge West. Therefore, you don’t see too
is a very low probability of return? The the gap in certain areas? many examples of India-originated
reality of India is that there is a lot of I wouldn’t think there is anything ideas succeeding on a global scale.
work that we all have to do together. lacking among Indian startup The global delivery (IT-service
This involves the government, private entrepreneurs. What is missing is outsourcing) model that Infosys
sector and the higher education the readiness of Indian corporations conceptualised and popularised in

76 | forbes india december 21, 2016

the West, in my opinion, is the first
worthwhile idea from India. After
that, maybe there have been more
such ideas, but I’m not aware of it.
There is also a second model,
which was what we started talking
about in 2004 when Mr Manmohan
Singh became prime minister. It was
about opening our door to well-
known foreign universities to start
campuses here so that we benefit
from their expertise and experience.
These are the two ways in which
we can scale up the absorption of
leading-edge ideas by Indian youth.
Q We don’t see many examples
of Indian corporates backing
science and research. What
initiatives should companies
take to encourage this?
Every corporation must ask how they
can use new ideas to make themselves
the leaders in their marketplace and
provide better products and services
to their customers while making better
margins. The moment we accept this,
every employee will start asking how
to reduce the cost of operation and
provide better value to customers
with a higher level of quality. Once
each one of us starts asking these
questions in everything we do,
doesn’t matter whether the person
is a janitor or a CEO, our mindset
changes automatically and we become
much more receptive to new ideas. I
think that’s the way we need to work.
Every organisation will have to think
about how to improve productivity,
get better value for time and better
value to customers using science,
mathematics and technology. This will
automatically create that mindset.
Q Infosys Science Foundation, the
not-for-profit trust, was set up
to promote the culture of science
and research in the country. Could
you give us an idea about the kind
of work the foundation does?
Our long-term vision is that the
Infosys Prize will become like
the Nobel Prize. This prize will
“being open to the outside
world and learning from
it is always a good idea.”
incentivise our researchers to work
on the problems that confront us and
arrive at workable solutions. Our
vision is that the various programmes
the foundation has taken up will
create a set of youngsters who can
compete with the best in the world in
the field of science, technology and
mathematics. We have the best set of
jury chairs for the Infosys Prize [It is a
Rs 65 lakh prize across six categories
for contemporary scientists and
researchers, whose work is connected
with or impacts India in some way].
The foundation also runs
programmes to train teachers of
public schools from Karnataka and
other states in India. [In the pilot year
(2014), the foundation trained 640
teachers from government schools
across all 34 districts in Karnataka. In
the current academic year, 2016-17,
it plans to train about 2,400 teachers
in science and mathematics.]
We are also starting a programme
where we would be selecting about
50 most promising students in the
field of physics from high schools
and colleges in December this year.
The selected students will go through
an intensive two-week programme
that explores fundamental concepts
in physics at the undergraduate
level at the Infosys Mysore campus.
We are planning to start a similar
programme in mathematics. There
are a lot of initiatives that the
foundation has taken up. But, in a
large country like India, this is a drop
in the ocean. It is important that
many more corporations start such
initiatives so that India doesn’t get left
behind in science and technology.
Q What led to the creation of the
Infosys Science Foundation?
When Infosys completed its 25th year
in 2006, we, the founders, started
discussing how do we show our
gratitude to our country because our
talent primarily comes from India.
We wanted to support researchers
to become world class. We created
a prize money of $100,000 (about
Rs 65 lakh) to support young and
talented researchers. We created
six prizes—in physical science,
mathematical science, engineering,
biology and medicine, agriculture,
humanities and social sciences. We
carefully choose the jury members,
who are the best in their fields from
top global universities. We also
insisted that the awardee should
have ideally done his or her work in
India. However, he or she need not
be an Indian citizen. We are very
keen on protecting the qualities of
the awardees. We strive hard to
ensure that the award maintains its
prestige, quality and reputation.
Q You had an extremely
enriching career as a business
leader and built one of India’s
most valued companies.
What are your plans now?
I turned 70 this August. So, at this
point of time, I do not have any
plans or projects to accomplish/
complete. I keep reading books on
mathematics, physics and computer
science. Due to my age, I’m a little
slow in understanding [things], but
I still retain my interests in these
subjects. I listen to music. I just
come to office [Catamaran, Murthy’s
family office] and sit there from
morning till afternoon. If anybody
wants to consult me, they are most
welcome. That’s how I spend most
of my time. I just look forward to a
peaceful, healthy and happy life. I
don’t have any grandiose plans.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 77
The 100 richesT indians
( p r o f i l e s)
a b h ay f i r o d i a
The Force is
with Firodia
the pune-based auto tycoon is
carrying forward his father’s legacy
of transformative mass travel
By Samar SrivaStava
A
sk for a meeting with
Abhaykumar Firodia
and you hear back
within hours. Exact
timings are given.
The directions to
his office in Pimpri-Chinchwad, an
industrial cluster on the outskirts
of Pune, are short and crisp. Once
there, the meetings proceed
with clockwork precision.
This discipline is hardly surprising
given that Firodia has had a long
history of collaborating with the
Germans. “Over the years, dealing
with the Germans, their purity of
technical thought, their dedication
to quality—they’ve became part of
the operating DNA of our company,”
says Abhay Firodia, 72, chairman of
Force Motors. Spend time with him
and it becomes clear that the ethos
has seeped into the organisation.
It is also evident that he’s not
afraid to speak his mind. Just a
day before Forbes India met him in
September, he’d spoken out on the
ad-hoc nature of the Supreme Court-
imposed ban (which was lifted in
August after the imposition of a new
tax) on diesel cars (above 2000 cc) at
the annual meeting of the Society of
Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
“The courts and the green brigade
have to engage the country in a
manner that is constructive,” he
78 | forbes india december 21, 2016
says. “Bans won’t necessarily solve
things.” He was also concerned that
the industry would have trouble
in meeting the new Bharat Stage
IV emission norms that are due to
be implemented by April 2017.
The Firodia family has a
distinguished place in the country’s
auto history. They have pioneered
several innovations which became
a staple for travel. For instance,
father Navalmal
Kundanmal Firodia set at a glance
up the first autorickshaw AbhAy FirodiA
manufacturing facility Chairman, Force motors
in India in 1947. The
Age: 72
family also introduced
the Tempo, the three- rank in the
wheeled goods carrier;
70
rich List:
the Matador; the Net worth: $1.76 billion
Luna; and scooters
that were made by The big Challenge
Faced: Force motors’
Kinetic Engineering entry into the tractor
in collaboration with segment
Honda Motor Company. The Way Forward:
(In the 1990s, before Company is a leader
in the mass trans-
the Tata Nano came portation market. it
along, Abhay’s cousin plans to extend its
dominance here
Arun, who runs Kinetic
Engineering as a separate
entity now, also wanted
to launch a Rs 1 lakh-car but the
existing duty structure made it
unviable.) Both the Luna and Kinetic
scooters are no longer in production.
Today, Force Motors is run by
 abhay Firodia, chairman
of Force motors, has
inculcated the German
style of working at
his organisation

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 79

The 100 richesT indians
son Prasan, 37, who is the managing
director. It is the only listed entity in
the Firodia empire and has seen its
market cap triple over the last two
years to Rs 5,110 crore. Privately-
held Jaya Hind Industries has a large
flourishing auto components business.
Add to that, the Firodias have stakes
in various companies run by the Bajaj
family (rank 17)—for instance, Bajaj
Auto and Bajaj Finserv, which have
also seen their valuations rise rapidly
in the last year. As a result, with a net
wealth of $1.85 billion, Abhay Firodia
has moved up 18 spots to number 70
on the 2016 Forbes India Rich List.
The Firodias trace their roots to a
village named Firod near Nagaur in
Rajasthan. It was in the early 1800s
that the family migrated southwards
to Maharashtra. Navalmal Firodia
in the last two years,
force motors’ profit has
compounded at 52% to
reach rs 179.4 crore
graduated in law and set up a practice
in Ahmednagar and even went to
Yerawada jail during the freedom
struggle. A year before Independence,
he decided to give up his legal practice
and started out as an entrepreneur
setting up Jaya Hind Industries, which
began as an agency in the mid-’40s for
Woodstock typewriters in Mumbai.
The first telegraphic address of the
company was ‘nek bepar’, which stood
for nek vyapaar or ethical business.
Not to be satisfied with just
importing and selling typewriters, the
restless Firodia senior came up with
the concept of a three-wheeled people
carrier. He was inspired by the three-
wheeled goods carriers in Europe,
which were used to deliver to bakeries
or florists, and thought (rightly) that
he could convert the idea to a people
carrier. A joint venture (JV) between
the Firodias’ Jaya Hind Industries
80 | forbes india december 21, 2016
and Jamnalal Sons (the Bajaj family)
through Bachraj Trading Corporation
in 1947 was formed to build the now-
ubiquitous autorickshaw. “There
seemed to be no conflict in terms of
the business model from the point of
view of the operator, the government
or the passenger,” says Firodia.
This JV eventually morphed
into Bajaj Auto and is now run by
the Bajaj family. And although his
own family no longer manufactures
autorickshaws, Firodia takes
immense pride in the fact that the
vehicle was his father’s “invention”.
For good reason: Nearly 60 years
on, with millions of autorickshaws
plying across India, it is this
contribution of the Firodia family
that has stood the test of time.
At that time, though, even as he
was entrenched in setting up the
autorickshaw business, it wasn’t
enough for NK Firodia. He went on
to set up Firodia Tempo in 1957; this
was a joint venture in collaboration
with Germany’s Vidal & Son’s
Tempo Werkes, to manufacture a
three-wheeled goods carrier called
Tempo Hanseat. “He wanted to
replace the bail-gaadi (bullock
cart),” recalls Firodia. Then, in 1958,
there was a three-way arrangement
with Vidal & Son’s Tempo Werkes,
the Firodias and the Bajaj family.
This JV was named Bajaj Tempo
Company, and manufactured Tempos
out of Goregaon in Mumbai. (The
two JVs eventually combined, and
became Force Motors in 2005).
There was a messy separation
with the Bajaj family in 1970,
which resulted in the two parties
having holdings in each others’
companies (but more on that later).
Abhay Firodia started coming
into his own by 2000. By then,
the family had entered the auto
components space through the
unlisted Jaya Hind Industries, which
has since built relationships with
all the car manufacturers in the
country. They would make engines
for, say, Ford Motor Company and
brakes for Mahindra & Mahindra.
Over the years, as Vidal & Son’s
Tempo Werkes changed hands,
the Firodias found themselves in
an association with German auto
major Daimler. They eventually
bought Daimler out in 2001, but not
before reaping the benefits of this
relationship. Because, in addition to
making the Firodias acquainted with
German systems and processes, it
also gave them significant credibility.
Soon, they were presented with the
opportunity to assemble Mercedes
cars when the German auto company
set up shop in Pune in 1997 through
a tie-up with Tata Motors. Today,
the engines and axels of all Mercedes
cars sold in India are assembled by
Jaya Hind Industries. Son Prasan
explains: “They come in completely
knocked down versions and then
we put everything in place. We are
even responsible for the warranty.”
Recently, they have entered into
a similar tie-up with BMW in
Chennai to assemble their engines.
But it is the turnaround at Force
Motors that has propelled the
Firodias’ net worth: The family has
a 60 percent stake in the company.
“It has crystallised into a focussed
business on the mass transportation
of people,” says Firodia of Force
Motors. The company finds itself as
a leader in the mass transportation
space, explains Prasan. And as Indians
travel more, the need for reliable,
efficient transportation has increased
manifold both for within and between
cities. While Volvo has emerged as
a front-runner for inter-city travel,
there is also a requirement for smaller
vehicles that are just as dependable. It

is in this market that Force Motors has
carved an enviable niche for itself. The
Traveller ‘mini-bus’ and its various
models (that are used as people
carriers and as ambulances) have
become a clear leader in the segment.
Further, the experience in the
components business has meant that
“we make our clutches and brakes
in-house. We even have our own cast
iron foundry,” points out Prasan.
Within cities, the IT enablement
of transport has resulted in Force
Motors working with app-based
bus aggregators that provide travel
services to office workers. It has
Force motors mD
Prasan Firodia feels the it
enablement of transport
will change the way in
which people travel
already supplied 2,000 buses and
has orders for several hundred more.
“One knows exactly where the bus
is at any given point. Through a
camera, one can watch what is going
on inside the bus,” explains Firodia.
Lastly, Firodia was responsible
for a successful entry into the
tractor market in 2015. Though
Prasan admits that the numbers
are small, he says they have made
a name for themselves in the 25-50
HP market for orchard tractors.
One bet that went wrong was
the Force One, an SUV for personal
travel. Prasan admits the company
under-estimated the styling and
design requirements. They’ve sold
only about 1,000 units to date (it was
launched in 2011) and the car is not a
focus area for the foreseeable future.
With utilisation levels increasing
(in the last two years, the company
has moved from selling 1,100 to
2,000 Travellers a day) and fixed
costs taken care of, Force Motors has
seen a disproportionate increase in
its profitability. During that period,
its profit has compounded at 52
percent to reach Rs 179.4 crore. The
Bajaj family, which held 21 percent
in Force Motors, exited in 2014 and
this improved liquidity in the stock.
In addition, the Firodias have a 20
percent stake in Israel’s Rivulis, the
world’s third largest drip irrigation
company. There are also the holdings
in Bajaj Auto and Bajaj Finserv which
Firodia sees as a purely financial
investment. “They are well-run
companies; I don’t want to sell those
stakes and then worry about where
to invest that money,” he says.
For now, Firodia has handed over
most of the reigns to his son. He still
comes to office every day and is active
building a museum in Pune on the
culture, history and philosophy of the
Jain community in India. He plans
to make it a futuristic undertaking
with less reliance on statues and
artefacts and more on digital
elements and even virtual reality.
Still, he’s not lost sight of the
business he has helped build. He sees
his group significantly expanding the
components arm. He’s also interested
in seeing how the industry will evolve.
Two predictions from him: First,
the IT enablement of transport will
increase manifold, and, second,
electricity will become an important
source of propulsion in the next
decade for something like 25 percent
of vehicles. The initial step in this
journey could be the electrification of
buses along a certain route. Having
already made inroads in the first
opportunity, the next challenge
seems clear for the Firodias.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 81
 The 100 richesT indians

( p r o f i l e s)

Complexity
t u r a k h i a b r ot h e r s

Required
sibling pair took their first steps toward tech startups at a tender age
By AnurAdhA rAghunAthAn

A
nyone can play a experience,” says Divyank. to be made and I’ll do a better job
videogame. But can Now, 21 years later, the brothers than everyone else. We need to know
you create one? That are winning for real. Divyank, that we are doing something that’s
was the challenge referred to as Div, sold his six- fun and exciting and complex.”
that motivated year-old advertising technology The Dubai ad tech company,
brothers Divyank firm Media.net to a consortium of which had $232 million in revenues
and Bhavin Turakhia to begin game Chinese investors in August for a in the past year, draws 90 percent of
programming when they were still whopping $900 million. The deal its revenue from the US and about
in primary school. The challenge was negotiated by Bhavin in Beijing. half from mobiles. Div will continue
came from their father, a chartered Combined with other exits and to be chief executive, spearheading
accountant, who also bought them their personal investments, this gives its growth in Europe and China.
books on how to create games. the Turakhia brothers an estimated Bhavin, meanwhile, will manage
At the age of 13, when Divyank net worth of $1.3 billion, making the three startups—two out of India—that
had a computer project tech duo rare new he’s kicked off in the last two years.
at school, he and Bhavin, at a glance entrants on the 2016 So how did the brothers get this
who was 15, spent an Forbes India Rich big? It goes back to an enriched,
Bhavin and
entire year developing divyank Turakhia List. Over the years, albeit unusual, childhood. From the
a business-simulation the brothers have time the lanky boys started learning
age: 36, 34
game. It starts with an created an array of about computers in their fourth and
animation sequence on rank in the businesses, including sixth grades, they were hooked. They
rich List: 95
how a commercial partner web hosting and began reading computer books and
has cheated the player and net worth: $1.3 billion cloud infrastructure, using their computer lab at the select
taken over a company. So, voice and messaging Arya Vidya Mandir school in Bandra,
The Big Challenge
with no money in hand, Faced: Building
services, and digital Mumbai, during lunch breaks and
the player is charged with internet and technol- payments. They have free time after school. Early pocket
building a rival business ogy companies in offices in Dubai, New money for Div came from doing
a nascent Indian
from scratch. The ultimate market and expand- York, Zurich, Los computer projects for rich kids.
aim is to gain 100 percent ing with little outside Angeles and Beijing. The brothers started freelance
investment
market share. The player “We’ve never been consulting when they were just
must handle money The Way Forward: the first at anything, 14 and 16. In 1998, they founded a
Bhavin has floated a
and employees as well number of startups; and it makes no company, Directi, with one computer
as create and manage divyank will difference to us,” says in an office space owned by their dad,
continue to head
budgets. “Playing the Media.net following Divyank, 34. “But show who lent them $600. With 40 clients
game was educational. the acquisition me an industry where lined up, the teens paid him back
Creating it was an there’s $1-billion-plus in the first month. Says Div, “When

82 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 “We need to know
that we are doing
something that’s fun,”
say divyank (left) and
Bhavin turakhia

ErIc MIllEttE for forBEs

The 100 richesT indians
we were kids, we thought we could
achieve anything. We still do.”
They bothered with undergrad
commerce degrees to satisfy their
mother, they say, but quickly moved
on to businesses in web services
and payments. “I’d have been the
AOL of India, but I didn’t have the
money,” offers Div half-seriously.
Until 2005, they ran the businesses
together but figured out they could
double their reach individually.
“Working with Div is a lot of fun,”
says Bhavin. “We think similarly in so
many aspects. He’s the most chilled-
out guy I know. I can count on him
personally and workwise. We have a
crazy amount of trust in each other.”
That helped the pair see past
a stumble after Div started a
company, Skenzo, licencing an
online ad technology. After initial
“When you oWn the
beach, Why Would you
be splitting the sand?”
success, it nosedived amid shifts in
the sector. Div was undaunted.
By 2010, he launched Media.
net, which allows publishers to
automatically display relevant ads
based on the content of their web
pages. The ads were mostly sourced
from Yahoo. From 2012, Media.net ran
the Yahoo Bing Network’s contextual
ads and agreed to never sell or licence
its tech to Google. Div says Yahoo
considered buying Media.net several
times, but each time it fell through
because the timing didn’t work out.
(Yahoo refused to comment.)
Bhavin meanwhile focussed on
a web-hosting business that, with
other services, was sold to a US firm,
Endurance International, for $160
million. “The brothers have a very
good dynamic of divide and conquer
when it comes to work,” explains Hari
Ravichandran, Endurance’s CEO.
“They have a deep connection with
84 | forbes india december 21, 2016
each other as business partners.”
But the biggest deal was yet to
come. In late 2015, Div got a feeler
about Media.net from a Nasdaq-listed
firm. So he enlisted Bank of America
Merrill Lynch in a global search
that led to China, where there’s a
huge push for investment in online
advertising technology following 2015
guidelines from the State Council.
The Media.net deal was led by
Beijing’s Miteno Communication
Technology, a tech, media and
telecom company listed on the
GEM Board in Shenzhen. Bhavin
came in to negotiate so Div could
continue running Media.net without
distraction. “The talks involved getting
up and walking out multiple times,”
the elder brother says. “But with
seven offers on the table, there was
no need to make a compromise. We
weren’t dying to sell the company.”
Bhavin also brought himself
up to speed on Chinese laws and
technologies. “At one point, it
was me against 18 lawyers and
investment bankers on their side,”
he says. Still, he extracted a $426
million upfront payment.
With Miteno there was a good
meeting of minds and cultures.
Chairman Zhiyong Zhang, a veteran
of the Chinese sector, hosted dinners
and took Bhavin on sightseeing
trips to the Forbidden City and the
Summer Palace. Zhang, for his part,
is thrilled with the partnership. He’d
researched hundreds of options before
deciding on Media.net. “I liked the
tech platform, the innovation and
the entire management team,” he
says. “They’ve worked on developing
the business in a cost-effective and
profitable way. I like the fact that
they have very strong relationships
with premium publisher brands.”
Conversely, Zhang’s relationships
with the top three Chinese telecom
players is a plus for Media.net.
While Div was busy in ad tech,
Bhavin was floating other startups. But
the brothers’ itch is for technology.
“They come from the hacker mindset.
They enjoy it when they break codes
and build products,” says Avinash
Raghava, co-founder of a think tank
that’s working to make India a hub
for software products. “They are
focussed on building world-class
products. This is very different from
today’s entrepreneurs who are very
distracted by money and investors.”
In fact the brothers have only once
sought external investors—and later
bought back the stake. They have
a loose sharing arrangement when
it comes to money and ownership
of businesses. (Directi, the original
incorporation, was kept as a brand
that links their various companies.)
“In my mind and in Bhavin’s mind,
we both own everything and we
both have access to everything,” says
Div. “When you own the beach, why
would you be splitting the sand?”
“They’ve also built a really good
culture within the company,” says
Endurance’s Ravichandran. “The
focus is on problem solving.”
The brothers can be workaholics.
Ravichandran recalls how Bhavin had
a mini-van in Mumbai fitted with a
workstation and Wi-Fi so he could
work on the go during his 20-minute
commute. Divyank, however, is into
aerobatic flying. He says he wants
to fly jets next. On land there’s
a cherry-red Ferrari 458 Spider
waiting for him in San Francisco,
where the brothers share a house—
as they do in Vancouver, Mumbai
and Dubai, which they both now
call home for ease of connectivity.
Between work and periodic
play, there’s been no occasion for
starting families. “We are too busy
building businesses,” declares Div.
Serious businesses.
No games anymore.
 The 100 richesT indians
( p r o f i l e s)
the goenk as
Fabric-ation?
welspun couple is the most prominent
drop from this year’s roster
I
n mid-August, textile
tycoon Balkrishan Goenka
was riding high.
Home-textile company
Welspun India—founded by him
and run by his wife, Dipali—had
reported record revenue of $900
million and profits of $106 million
for the past year. The company,
among the top three home-textile
makers in the world, announced an
ambitious target of being a zero-debt,
$2 billion (revenue) outfit by 2020.
But in late August, the textile
empire ripped a centre seam as
the stock fell by 47 percent in four
days before recovering somewhat.
Goenka’s net worth tanked by $600
million, making him ineligible for the
2016 Forbes India Rich List. (Goenka,
50, who had re-entered the country’s
100 roster last year after a four-year
break, also debuted on Forbes’s
World’s Billionaires List this year.)
The crisis started when US retailer
Target—among the company’s top
five customers—terminated its
decade-long relationship, saying that
Welspun had used non-Egyptian
cotton in making Egyptian cotton
BAlkrIshAn gOEnkA: MExy xAvIEr
bedsheets sold under the Fieldcrest
label. Target has offered refunds
to all customers who bought these
sheets over a two-year span. Walmart,
too, said in early September that
it will pull Egyptian cotton sheets
supplied by Welspun and offer
refunds to its customers. Walmart
86 | forbes india december 21, 2016
By AnurAdhA rAghunAthAn
Welspun group founder Balkrishan goenka
and wife dipali, CEO of Welspun India, will
have to make another comeback
will continue its relationship with
the Indian company, however.
Meanwhile, Bed Bath & Beyond
and JC Penney are in the process
of investigating, but haven’t
made any announcements yet.
Welspun, which is headquartered
in the erstwhile textile hub of Kamala
Mills in Mumbai, has appointed the
global auditing firm EY to determine
what went wrong. “We are taking the
quality issue raised by the customer
very seriously and have initiated
immediate actions to investigate
our supply chain and processes,” a
company spokesman told Forbes Asia.
Welspun is the largest supplier
of towels and bedsheets to the US—
supplying an estimated one out of
every five towels. And it’s a valued
vendor. The American trade magazine
Home & Textiles ranked Welspun No
1 among the Top 15 Home Supplier
Giants—for the fourth consecutive
year. It’s a status achieved after 20
years of building clientele in the US.
Analysts, however, are sceptical
about future prospects. “We don’t
know how deep the problem is,” says
Sumant Kumar of Mumbai’s Elara
Securities, who downgraded the
stock to “sell” after the Target issue
erupted. “There’s a risk of lower order
inflows because of loss of reputation.”
Target’s annual engagement with
Welspun is $90 million, and Egyptian
cotton products overall contributed
to 6 percent of company revenue. The
Welspun says it is installing technology to ensure complete traceability of cotton fibres
Walmart contribution with reference
to Egyptian cotton products added
up to $13.5 million. “We are already
installing technology to monitor
our supply chain and vertically
integrating to ensure complete
traceability of cotton fibres,” the
company said in a September 10
filing to the stock exchange.
Dipali, 46, who started running
textile operations five years ago and
in August, welspun indiA’s
stock fell by 47% in four
dAys. goenkA’s net worth
tAnked by $600 million
is credited with driving Welspun’s
growth in revenue, profits and
innovation, wasn’t available for
comment. She was in the US during
the crisis meeting with customers.
Welspun has seen many ups
and downs in its 31-year history
as it evolved from a commodity
manufacturer to a branded supplier
with manufacturing plants in
the western state of Gujarat.
It’s one of the few Indian textile
companies to have established a
strong manufacturing presence
at a time when others have either
moved out of manufacturing or
outsourced it. After its own failed
effort a decade ago to try production
abroad, Welspun spent nearly $380
million over the past three years
beefing up domestic output so
that more things can be done in-
house. An additional $120 million
has been earmarked for such
expansions this year. The company
says all plans are still on track.
The Goenkas, who engineered
a textile comeback in the last few
years after a retail push at home also
soured, will have to do a repeat act.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 87
The 100 richesT indians

(b i g e x i t)

the bansals

Add to Cart, Checkout

a year after their debut, flipkart’s bansals are out of the rich list

I
By ANGAD SINGH THAKUR & pRAmoD mATHew

n September last year, Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal
and Binny Bansal (they are not related) made their
debut on Forbes India’s annual rich list. With the
ecommerce giant being valued at $15.2 billion, the
Bansals’ net worth was estimated to be $1.5 billion
each, making them the first ever ecommerce entrants
to the rich list. It has been a rocky twelve months since,
for both Flipkart and its founders: Five of its investors
have marked down the value of their investments in the
company, competition from deep-pocketed rival Amazon
has intensified, and there’s also been a leadership change.
This year, the Bansals do not feature on our list.

valuation blues
Investors have slashed Flipkart’s valuation a number of times in the past year. Here are some of the major ones

Feb ’16 Apr ’16 May ’16 May ’16 May ’16 Jun ’16 Jul ’16 Aug ’16
0
-15.1

-10
mARKDow N f Rom $ 15.2 B L N ( %)

-20
12.9
-29.6

-25
-27.6

-32.2
-30
11 10.7 11.4
-38.2
-39.5

-40.8
-40 10.3
9.2 9.4 9
-50
*Fidelity
rutlaNd
INveSToRS MorgaN t rowe Square *Valic MorgaN VaNguard t rowe MorgaN
StaNley price truSt ii co 1 StaNley group price StaNley

* Fidelity and Valic have since marked up the firm by 3% and 10% respectively Revised valuation ($ BLN) Source: Media reports

payment gateways Biggest fund raisings by Indian ecommerce firms in the past year
AmoUNT RAISeD ($ mLN)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Sep ’15 680 paytM

Feb ’16 200 SNapdeal

Mar ’16 150 bigbaSket

Nov ’16 120 groFerS

Source: Tracxn

88 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 flipkart co-founders
Sachin (right) and
Binny Bansal were
ranked 86 on the 2015
forbes India Rich list

stampede of big shopping days

investments In July this year, Flipkart-owned online fashion retailer Myntra
acquired its closest rival Jabong in a $70 million deal
Flipkart has raised over $3 billion
1,000
FLIPKART’S AcquISITIonS

pHoToGRApH: mALLIKARjUN KATAKoL; INfoGRApHIcS: SAmeeR pAwAR

800
f U NDS R A I Se D ( $ m L N)

phonepe Fx-Mart appiterate adiquity MYnTRA letsbuy Mime360 weread

600 (Mobile (payments (Mobile (Mobile (Ecommerce) (electronics (digital (Social book
payments) services) engagement; network) may 2014 retail) distribution) discovery)
april 2016 september marketing march 2015 February october 2011 december
2015 automation) 2012 2010
april 2015
400

200

cubeit Native5 Fitiquette

Jabong Sher Singh HrX
(content (app (Virtual
0 (ecommerce) (apparel) (apparel)
Jun aug Jul oct May Jul dec Jun Jul aggregation) development) reality)
July 2016 november august 2016
’11 ’12 ’13 ’13 ’14 ’14 ’14 ’15 ’15 July 2016 may 2016 april 2013 2012
* the firm also raised an undisclosed amount
in from accel partners and tiger global
Management in 2009 and 2010 respectively

Source: Tracxn Source: Tracxn —with additional inputs from debojyoti ghosh

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 89

 The 100 richesT indians

( o b i t u a r y)

b r i j m o h a n l a l l m u n ja l

Brijmohan Lall munjal

was chairman emeritus
of Hero motoCorp
when he passed away
on November 1, 2015, at
the age of 92. He was
ranked 27 in the 2015
Forbes india rich List
Amit VermA

90 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 Value Creator
a self-educated entrepreneur, brijmohan lall munjal
repeatedly built businesses that went on to become
world leaders in their respective segments
C
onsidering that he
believed in building
close, long-term
relationships—
Brijmohan Lall Munjal
knew every dealer and
vendor by name—the break-up in 2011
of the joint venture between the Hero
Group and Honda Motor Company
was particularly emotional for him.
The partnership—Hero Honda—that
he had created and nurtured had
lasted 26 long years and Hero Honda
had become the largest two-wheeler
manufacturer, not just in India, but
globally (taken as a single entity).
When friction arose between the
partners, for a multitude of reasons
including transfer of technology and
product development capabilities,
Munjal, then 87, attended every
meeting of the top management. He
tried hard to find solutions that would
allow the joint venture to continue.
But “when he realised that things had
come to such a pass that a separation
was inevitable, he stopped being
emotional and gave his nod,” recalls
Ravi Sud, senior vice president & CFO,
Hero MotoCorp. “He then told us to
get the best people, go after the best
technology and always look ahead.”
Munjal remained the guiding
force for the top management for
a few more years before handing
over the chairmanship of the
company to his son Pawan Munjal,
62, and stepping back to become
chairman emeritus in mid-2015.
He died on November 1, 2015, after
By N mAdHAVAN
a brief illness, at the age of 92.
“It was Munjal’s knowledge and
wisdom that gave investors like me
confidence that Hero MotoCorp will
survive the break-up,” says Raamdeo
Agrawal, co-founder and joint MD,
Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Five
years after the split with Honda, Hero
MotoCorp has retained its dominance
in the motorcycle segment and has
since developed its technological and
product development capabilities.
“My team and I are taking his
legacy forward with a commitment
to sustained leadership…,” Pawan
Munjal, who is now the chairman,
Munjal believed in close
relationships and tried
to preserve the honda jv
managing director and CEO of Hero
MotoCorp, had told Forbes India
during an earlier interaction.
Born in 1923 in undivided Punjab,
Brijmohan Lall Munjal and his
family moved to India during the
Partition. It was in Ludhiana that
he, along with his four brothers,
started a bicycle parts business, later
foraying into bicycle manufacturing.
Hero Cycles soon became a name to
reckon with and Munjal, along with
his brothers, helped create an entire
cycle manufacturing ecosystem in
Ludhiana. Today, Hero Cycles is the
largest bicycle manufacturer in the
world by volumes. He repeated the
feat again with Hero Honda and then
Hero MotoCorp. He believed that
if one works hard and is good to the
people around, success in business
will inevitably follow. It consistently
did. In the 2015 Forbes India Rich
List he was ranked 27 with a net
worth of $3 billion (his son Pawan
Munjal has taken his place in the
2016 Forbes India Rich List and is
ranked 29). He was also awarded
the Forbes India Leadership Award
for Lifetime Achievement in 2014.
Munjal swore by honesty and
integrity. He never went to college
but his adopted management
practices endeared him to the entire
ecosystem, be it employees, dealers
or vendors, and remain legendary.
“I was clearly instructed that at no
cost should I hold back payment to
vendors, whatever the company’s
financial position,” says Sud. “There
are times when we borrowed from the
market just to pay vendors on time.”
His competitors, too, adored him.
Bajaj Group Chairman Rahul Bajaj,
for instance, called him his ‘guru’,
and looked up to him for his wisdom
and common sense. He was, indeed,
a hero in every sense of the word.
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 91
 The 100 richesT indians

(next g e n)

prashant bangur

Prashant Bangur, joint mD of

Shree Cement, says he does
not like to over-promise

A Strong Foundation
prashant bangur has been an ideal complement in his father’s
quest to build shree cement into a successful company

I
By Samar SrivaStava
arinDam mukherjee for forBeS inDia

n 2003, when Prashant Bangur,
then 22, entered Shree Cement’s
only plant in Beawar, Rajasthan,
he recalled the single instruction
from his father Hari Mohan
(HM) Bangur: “You are going
there to observe and learn. You are not
going there to give any suggestions
or make any improvements.” Bangur
had just completed his MBA from the
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad,
and says his role was loosely that
of an apprentice or trainee. His
father’s reasoning was simple: “If we
had lived without him joining the
business, we could have lived a few
more years as well.” Bangur was to
take notes and keep them to himself,
his father had added. And over time,
he realised why. As the years went
by, the doubts that were raised in his
mind got resolved on their own.
Looking back, it was the best
initiation Bangur, now 36, who

92 | forbes india december 21, 2016


was recently promoted to joint
managing director, could have
gotten into the business. He would
travel to Beawar, staying there for
three or four weeks at a stretch, and
immerse himself in all the technical
aspects of the plant and observe
the innards of its functioning. It
was to prepare him for the many
challenges and opportunities that
would come in the next decade.
And it has been quite a decade.
From a mere Rs 75 crore in market
capitalisation and a one-plant
operation (1.8 million tonnes of
cement), Shree Cement, a virtual
unknown ten years ago, has grown
to a Rs 61,215 crore company with
10 plants producing 26 million
tonnes. It has also taken Bangur’s
grandfather Benu Gopal Bangur, the
85-year-old patriarch who chairs
Shree Cement, to No 14 on the 2016
Forbes India Rich List, from No 22
in 2015—his net worth has gone up
to $5.9 billion from $3.9 billion.
And the son and grandson, who
at a glance
run the company, are not plant from scratch
Prashant Bangur
done yet—they plan to joint managing director,
at Ras in Rajasthan.
take production to up to Shree Cement While company
40 million tonnes by 2019. age: 36
executives have a lot of
It’s a story of smart operational freedom,
entrepreneurship, of Education: indian the setting up of plants
School of Business,
capitalising on India’s hyderabad is something Bangur
rapidly growing economy. handles personally
On Company Culture:
It is a story of focusing “employees must even today. “The plant
on the right niche—as have the freedom will be with us for a
to suggest new
Bangur himself says, ideas. We must try long time and so the
“Somewhere it is also out all good ideas, layout, the equipment
irrespective of where
a case of being in the they come from.” ordered, are crucial
right business at the decisions,” he says.
right time.” And it is The company typically
also a story of approaching work in a locks in capital goods prices for
disciplined manner... in Bangur’s case, future plants as well, ensuring it
starting at the bottom and learning keeps its capacity expansion costs
the ropes as he made his way up. in check. It also helps Shree Cement
Bangur spent three years as a secure its market position in case
‘trainee’ before getting to work in of a sudden upswing in demand.
Kolkata (while Shree Cement has Having settled in, among Bangur’s
plants across India, the father and son top aims now is to foster a culture of
duo and a handful of key personnel innovation in the company, where
sit at their office at Strand Road people are not afraid to suggest and
on the banks of the Hooghly). His try new ideas. This environment
next big test was commissioning a was perhaps why Shree Cement was
Abhinandan Lodha
Deputy Managing Director,
Lodha Group
Abhinandan Lodha, 34, is the younger son of Mangal
Prabhat Lodha, chairman and founder of the Lodha
Group, ranked 56th on the 2016 Forbes India Rich List.
He joined the group along with elder brother Abhishek
in 2006. Abhishek handles the real estate business
while Abhinandan has taken an interest in finance and
taxation. He was in charge of raising $410 million from
Deutsche Bank in 2006 and since then, has looked at
raising capital for the group. He is currently in charge of
starting a finance company that will concentrate on low-
cost housing, which will be operational from January
2017. “We have a domain expertise in real estate and
we have built social economic housing in the past. We
believe we have a good understanding of the low-cost
housing market and its customer, so our first priority is
to get this business right. I’m right now in the startup
phase,” he says. The company will disburse loans in the
range of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. Abhinandan also plans
to set up a private equity fund in the future, which will
focus on long-term financing of real estate projects.
—pravin palande
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 93
 The 100 richesT indians
Roshni Nadar
Malhotra
Executive Director & CEO,
HCL Corporation
Director, HCL Technologies
Trustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation
Roshni Nadar Malhotra, 34,
is the daughter of Shiv Nadar,
founder and chairman of HCL
Corporation, ranked at No 8 on the
2016 Forbes India Rich List. She
joined the company board in 2008
and took over as CEO in 2009.
Besides her primary role, she
has also diversified the $7 billion
technology group into health care
with HCL Healthcare, an affiliation
with Johns Hopkins Medicine
International, which aims to build
a network of health clinics focussed
on providing outpatient care. She
also started HCL TalentCare,
which provides skill training in
banking, technology, insurance
and health care to graduates.
Nadar, who pursued her MBA from
the Kellogg School of Management,
is also passionate about education
for the underprivileged, something
she drives through the Shiv
Nadar Foundation. It has set up a
university and runs engineering
colleges, schools, VidyaGyan—a
residential academy for rural
children with two campuses in
Uttar Pradesh—and the Kiran
joShua navalkar
Nadar Museum of Art. She is
the chairman of VidyaGyan,
which has over 1,800 students.
—shruti venkatesh
94 | forbes india december 21, 2016
able to innovate with pet coke (or
petroleum coke). In 2005, it was the
first company to use pet coke as fuel.
The cost was substantially lower
than that of coal and this gave the
company a competitive advantage,
though it has since been nullified
as its rivals have also started using
pet coke and its price is now much
higher. That was also the reason
they tried (though they failed)
using biomass as a heating source.
A human resources measure they
employ is a tad unconventional. While
companies across industries are
known to reward top performers with
variable pay, Shree Cement offers only
a fixed salary. “If I reward success,
then the unsaid rule is that failure
would have to be punished,” says
managing director HM Bangur, 64.
Seeing them together, it is obvious
that the arrangement between
them is a unique one where there is
no division of responsibility. Both
focus on big picture ideas, leaving
the company’s day-to-day running
to their team. “The moment an
idea is given, it is forgotten who
gave the idea, and it is evaluated
on its merit,” says HM Bangur.
A hallmark of Shree Cement’s
success has been its ability to deliver
on its promises on time. When Forbes
India had met the Bangurs in 2013,
the company had said it would be a
25-million tonne company by March
2016. It achieved that goal and is now
on track for its next one. In addition
to expanding its existing plants, it
recently also won a bid for a limestone
mine in Karnataka and plans to start
operations there. This will be its first
entry into South India (at present
it is only in the north and east).
In keeping with its consistent
performance, the market has
periodically re-rated the stock. The
share price has grown at a CAGR
of 58 percent since 2003, taking the
market cap to Rs 61,000 crore. (The
share price was up by 45 percent in
the year since September 2015.)
Bangur admits the market is
probably pricing in a lot of future
growth. But the recent more-than-
expected growth in cement demand
in the east means the company’s
overall growth is much better than
that of its rivals. The company
follows an accelerated depreciation
policy and so its profits are higher
than stated. The father and son
duo has also built the company
without taking excessive debt,
and more importantly, without
diluting equity capital. “Existing
cash flows are enough to finance
future expansion,” says Bangur.
The company has, over the last
couple of years, decided to move
from a three-brand to a two-brand
strategy. The industry has segmented
cement into A, B and C classes. While
they are all the same strength, they
are marketed separately, similar to
how, say, soap brands are marketed.
Shree Cement’s Bangur Cement,
Shree Cement and Rockstrong are
sold separately, the godowns are
separate and the marketing teams sit
in different offices even within the
same city. They even have different
suffixes to their email IDs. Now,
Rockstrong is being discontinued
as the company believes it has
effectively segmented the market
with Bangur and Shree Cement.
A strategy they intend continuing
with is to not buy existing cement
plants but build them from scratch.
The logic is simple: It costs $60 a
tonne to construct a new plant versus
$110-$120 a tonne to buy an existing
plant. And their focus remains India.
In business, as in war, planning
is key, and Prashant Bangur, whose
favourite book is Sun Tzu’s ancient
Chinese military treatise called The
Art of War, is clear about his tactics.
For one, the company will never over-
promise. Ask the squash aficionado
to project the next two decades and
all one gets is a modest, “We take
a step-by-step approach. There is
no point projecting so far into the
future.” He probably knows best. No
one could have foreseen their success
ten years ago. Probably not even the
third-generation Bangur himself.
 The 100 richesT indians
( photo f e at u r e )

Seasons in the

Net worth: $1.67 bln 2016 Forbes INdIa rIch LIst raNk #75

Harsh at the annual two-day conference

of the then-undivided RPG Group
and their wives Sushila, Mala and
Preeti. “There was one rule: Everyone

Goenka in Goa in 1998, the mornings and

afternoons were reserved for business
Chairman, talks. In the evenings, group seniors
RPG Enterprises gathered at Aguada beach where
group patriarch Rama Prasad Goenka
(extreme left) was joined by sons
Harsh (centre) and Sanjiv (rank 91),
had to wear shorts,” says Harsh, who
was 40 then. He likens this to the
Rio carnival. The area around Fort
Aguada was decorated with fishermen’s
boats and their nets. The annual
meetings are now held in Mumbai.
—samar srivastava

96 | forbes india december 21, 2016

Sun we delve inside the albums of some
of india’s billionaires for a whiff
of nostalgia and a sense of history

Net worth: $1.56 bln 2016 Forbes INdIa rIch LIst raNk #84
it was a mix of work and pleasure
that took the co-founders of Indian FMCG
major Emami to Tokyo in 1978. While Agarwal
(right) and Goenka are seen holidaying with
their wives (Usha Agarwal and Saroj Goenka)
in the Japanese capital, the billionaire
entrepreneurs were also attending a trade
show on food machinery and technology
to gain an in-depth understanding of the
latest technologies in the food space, a
business they later ventured into.
Back from Tokyo, Agarwal and Goenka forayed
into the packaged food segment with the brand
Wah, which mostly sold rice-based products.
They even bought food-processing and
packaging machines from Tokyo, and Radhe Shyam
set up a factory in Rajasthan in 1980. However,
they decided to shut down the business in the Agarwal
early ’80s. “We did a lot of innovation in terms Co-founder & Executive
of the product and packaging at that time, Chairman, Emami
but I think the market was not ready for such
a product, which was priced a little higher
than the usual potato chips. Unlike today,
consumer awareness was also low. Though Radhe Shyam
our initial launch was good, we couldn’t keep
up the momentum and the manufacturing Goenka
cost was too high,” says Agarwal. Co-founder & Wholetime
—debojyoti ghosh Director, Emami

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 97

 The 100 richesT indians
( photo f e at u r e )

Net worth: $12.4 bln 2016 Forbes INdIa rIch LIst raNk #7

this photograph of adi godrej was taken
Adi sometime during the late 1970s, and is
symbolic of what the 119-year-old group
Godrej and its chairman stand for—endurance and
sustainability. In the photograph, Godrej,
Chairman, now 74 years old, is standing next to a
Godrej Group manufacturing line of Cinthol soaps, one of the
iconic products made by the consumer goods-
to-real estate conglomerate. Cinthol, which
was launched in 1952, is still available in the
red packaging in which it was first sold.
A few other things have, however, changed for
the group: The factory in which the photo was
taken, located in Mumbai’s eastern suburb of
Vikhroli, does not exist any longer. It has been
replaced by a swanky glass-and-steel building
that serves as the group’s headquarters.
—aveek datta

98 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 Net worth: $3.64 bln 2016 Forbes INdIa rIch LIst raNk #30
this photograph shows harsh mariwala at
Harsh Marico’s factory in Sewri, Mumbai, in the early
’80s, distributing home utility products like water
Mariwala containers, utensils and plates, among his 100-
odd workers during a Satyanarayan Puja. This
Chairman, was the factory where Parachute, one of Marico’s
Marico Ltd flagship brands, was being manufactured and
packaged. Apart from being an important day for
the staff, these events have always been close to
Mariwala. “Besides the auspicious occasion, such
interactions have always been special, for both
the company and the workforce,” he says. Marico
continues to celebrate its annual day every year.
—salil panchal
december 21, 2016 forbes india | 99
 The 100 richesT indians
( photo f e at u r e )

Net worth: $3.7 bln 2016 Forbes INdIa rIch LIst raNk #28

Kuldip Singh
and Gurbachan
Singh Dhingra
Chairman and Vice Chairman,
Berger Paints

in the summer of 1990, the year before

he bought Berger Paints from Vijay Mallya,
Kuldip Singh Dhingra meticulously planned
his daughters’ first US visit. Youngest
daughter Dipti (left) had just turned 10
and this meant she’d at last be able to get
past the height restrictions at Walt Disney
World in Orlando, Florida. Eldest Rishma,
standing next to her father, remembers an
action packed and fun-filled week. (Mother
Meeta Dhingra and sister Jessima are also
seen in this picture.) The family stayed at
the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando,
and visited a park a day—Walt Disney World
and its parks Magic Kingdom, Hollywood
Studios, Epcot and Animal Kingdom, apart
from SeaWorld and Wet ’n Wild. “It was
such a treat. Sitting in India we could
never have imagined this,” says Rishma.
Also on the agenda was a quick trip to
New York. A visit to Walt Disney World is
on its way to becoming a family tradition.
Rishma has taken her daughters there and
Jessima has already planned her family
visit. Both were unanimous on their choice
of hotel—Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress.

Below:
Younger brother Gurbachan
Singh Dhingra with wife Vinu at
Chagrin Falls in Ohio in 1987.
—samar srivastava

100 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 The 100 richesT indians

(twitter ta l k )

A Little Bird Told us

the 10 most influential indian business leaders on twitter
By AngAd Singh ThAkur & ShruTi VenkATeSh

Anand Mahindra Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

@anandmahindra @kiranshaw
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 65
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 90
date oF joInIng: May 2010
April 2009
date oF joInIng:
no oF FoLLowers: 834,627
no oF FoLLowers: 3,647,319
growth: 44%
100%
growth:

Pity #raghuramrajan is stepping

I keep this nearby—to remind down at a time when country needs
me what it means to have a him to deal with global economic
uncertainty linked to brexit, Us etc
passport saying ‘Republic of
India, not ‘Empire of India’
Uday Kotak
@udaykotak
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 11
date oF joInIng: June 2014
no oF FoLLowers: 369,082
growth : 269%

as oil touches 50$ India’s honeymoon

on inflation, current account may be
over. Micro needs to improve faster
as macro tail winds slow down.
mAhindrA, koTAk, chAndrA: VikAS khoT; nilekAni: AmiT VermA

Subhash Chandra
@subhashchandra
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 18
Nandan Nilekani
date oF joInIng: October 2013
@NandanNilekani
no oF FoLLowers: 315,316
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 80
growth: 43%
September 2013
date oF joInIng:
no oF FoLLowers: 1,016,884
growth: 119%
I urge each one of you to utilize
Mission accomplished! delivered 60cr
your Freedom of Speech,
#aadhaar numbers on time. grateful and speak up! We all must
to the PM for giving me an opportunity seek, nothing but the truth.
to serve the people of #India #JaiHind #WakeUpIndia
l Follower count as of october 6, 2016 l growth in the number of followers in the past 12 months
102 | forbes india december 21, 2016
 digital influence plays an important role NR Narayana Murthy
in today’s business world. From government @Infosys_nmurthy
leaders such as PM Modi to business leaders 2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 62
such as anand Mahindra, twitter has been date oF joInIng: October 2009
the platform of choice for influential leaders no oF FoLLowers: 42,438
as it lends them a voice that is authentic and growth: 24%
personal, leading to better communication happy to welcome Vishal @vsikka to Infosys.
and impact. twitter is the only platform
where business leaders can develop live, I am confident that Infosys is in capable hands.
public, and in-the-moment connections with
their target audiences, and move to change
opinions, sentiment and behaviours. we Acharya Balkrishna
are keen to see more businesses lead the @Ach_Balkrishna
change with digital, starting with the top. 2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 48
date oF joInIng: August2011
TARANjeeT SINGH, business head, Twitter India
no oF FoLLowers: 32,657
growth: 88%

Harsh Goenka
@hvgoenka
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 75
date oF joInIng: May 2009
no oF FoLLowers: 262,176
growth: 237%

Patels Asked for Reservation

and got the *Reserve
Bank* . #UrjitPatel

goenkA: mexy xAVier; mAriwAlA: prASAd gori; murThy: SelVAprAkASh lAkShmAnAn for forBeS indiA;
Harsh Mariwala
@hcmariwala
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 30
date oF joInIng: June 2014

BAlkriShnA: rAjeeV TyAgi / foTocorp; kriS gopAlAkriShnAn: fAheem huSSAin

no oF FoLLowers: 171,790
growth: 655%

Tools in an entrepreneur’s
box! #SkillSet Senapathy ‘Kris’
Gopalakrishnan
@kris_sg
2016 Forbes IndIa rIch LIst rank: 81
date oF joInIng: June 2009
no oF FoLLowers: 11,311
growth: 36%

Govt is establishing a
mechanism ‘self employment’
to support all aspects of start
up business: Appreciate!
Powered by Twitter

l Follower count as of october 6, 2016 l growth in the number of followers in the past 12 months
(st y le)
The
Style
 The 100 richesT indians

Colour: From the morning

meeting to the cocktail hour,
blue is the new grey.
In foCus: Socks are the attention-
seeking accessory of the year.
Choose contrasting colours or
prints, from classic geometrics
to modern day animation.

(From left to right)

Checks: Double-breasted suit by
Sunil Mehra. Shirt with band collar by
Wills Lifestyle. Check socks by Mustang.
High-gloss shoes by Christian Louboutin.
Watch by Seiko. Bag by Eske.
Stripes: Horizontal stripe suit by Canali.
Spread-collar shirt by Andamen.
Animated socks by The Moja Club.
Dual-coloured shoes by Modello
Domani. Watch by Michael Kors.
Solids: Block suit by PN Rao. Button-
down shirt by Camessi. Matching tie &
pocket square set by Stefano Ricci. Classic
socks by Mustang. Closed-laced shoes
by Roush. Shoulder bag by Longchamp.
Watch by Frederique Constant.
Drinks: Skyy Vodka, Amarula
Cream liqueur, Patron Silver
tequila and Jagermeister liqueur
to get the evening started.

Fashion Direction and Text: YATAN AHLUWALIA

(www.yestylemedia.com)

Photographs: VIKAS KHOT

Art Direction: ANJAN DAS

Meisters
how to master the
billion-dollar look
 The 100 richesT indians

(st y le)

style: Unconventional suits: Old

school with a modern twist.
In foCus: High-gloss footwear
for the urban man.

(From left to right)

Textured three-piece suit with red
buttons on the jacket and red buttonholes
on the waistcoat by Sunil Mehra.
Shirt with coloured piping by Wills
Lifestyle. Red glossy shoes by Christian
Louboutin. Watch by Swiss Military.
Graphic-printed jacket by Ashish Soni. Plain
black shirt by Surbhi Pansari. Glossy laced
shoes by Azzurro. Watch by Maserati.
Playing card-printed jacket by
SavilRoez Bespoke. Grey shirt by West
Street. Laceless shoes by Tresmode.
Watch by Jacques Lemans.
Floral suit by Varun Bahl. Dual-panel shirt
by Camessi. Shoes by Alberto Torresi.
Watch by Vacheron Constantin.

Hair & Grooming:

Y&E STYLE MEDIA PVT LTD
Styling Assistant: UDIT RANA
Production: Y&E STYLE MEDIA PVT LTD.
Production coordinator:
SAHIL VIG & KAMAL KUMAR
Models: NAVNIT SHARMA, JAGGY SINGH,
ADITYA KUNDRA & OJAS MALLA
Location & Hospitality:
THE LEELA AMBIENCE, GURGAON
HOTEL & RESIDENCES
(www.theleela.com)

106 | forbes india december 21, 2016

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 107
 The 100 richesT indians

Cut: An assortment
(st y le) of jacket lapels for
the after hours. Pick a
style that matches your
build and body type.
In foCus: Neck accessories:
Ties, bows or nothing at all.

(From left to right)

Embellished standard notch lapel
jacket by Varun Bahl. Two-tone
shirt by Camessi. Striped tie by
Ashish Soni. Shoes by Azzurro.
Watch by Vacheron Constantin.
Cut shawl lapel tuxedo and
straight cut tie by Ashish
Soni. Pleated shirt with polka
dot collar by Sunil Mehra.
Shoes by Modello Domani.
Watch by Michael Kors.
Narrow notch jacket by
Stefano Ricci. Dual coloured
shirt without a neckpiece
by Wills Lifestyle. Belt by
Savile Row. Shoes by Alberto
Torresi. Watch by Longines.
Peak lapel suit by Surbhi
Pansari. Printed shirt by
Camessi. Houndstooth bow
by Ashish Soni. Shoes by
Tresmode. Watch by Armani.

IndIan adventure: The

new look for power dressing.
In foCus: Outdoor
meets indoor.

Sleeveless self-print jacket and one

peak fold pocket square by Tarun
Tahiliani. Panel shirt by Bhane.
Straight-fit trousers by Nautica.
Striped socks by Mustang. Suede
laceless shoes by Tresmode. Multi-
pocket shoulder bag by Eske. Check
bowler hat by SavilRoez Bespoke.
Watch by Baume & Mercier.

108 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 The 100 richesT indians

(st y le)

Contrasts:
Lighter jackets with
darker trousers.
In foCus: A sharp
and snug fit.

Multi-tone short slim fit

jacket with coloured bands
by Divya Rajvir. Shirt by
Surbhi Pansari. Tapered
black trousers by West
Street. Light grey socks
by The Moja Club. Laced
shoes by Alberto Torresi.
Watch by Emporio Armani.

110 | forbes india december 21, 2016

 shape & form:
A comfortable and
unstructured fit
for leisurewear.
In foCus: Digital
printed fabrics.

Digital printed two-button

suit by Hugo Boss. Custom-
made shirt by Camessi.
Printed silk scarf by Shingora
tucked into the jacket. Belt
by Lacoste. Laced round-tip
shoes by Alberto Torresi.
Watch by Carl F Bucherer.

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 111

 The 100 richesT indians
(st y le)
the Jet setter: For
the man on the move.
In foCus: Sheen
and high gloss.
Royal blue jacket by PN
Rao. Textured shirt by West
Street. Bow by SavilRoez
Bespoke. Grey & black
socks by The Moja Club.
Glossy shoes by Modello
Domani. Bag by Singleton.
112 | forbes india december 21, 2016
mIx and matCh: Collars with the right shirts and accessories.
In foCus: Beards & hairstyles for business leaders.
(From left to right) gentle raise in front. Ideal
for men with wide foreheads
Navnit: Self-design wide- and thin hair texture.
peak jacket by Ermenegildo
Aditya: Wide-peak lapel check
Zegna. Paisley printed shirt
jacket by Canali. Club-collar
by Splash. Large embroidered
shirt by Bhane. Multi-tone
bow by Stefano Ricci.
tie by Alvaro Castagnino.
Face: Medium stubble.
Face: Short boxed beard.
Hair: Medium-length with the
Hair: Coloured and highlighted
centre pushed up and sides
then pulled back. Short on
pressed down for a more
the sides to bring out the
active and trendier look.
face and cheekbones.
Jaggy: Narrow-notch lapel
Ojas: Nehru-collar closed-neck
two-tone tux and straight-
formal jacket and two-peak puff
fold pocket square by Surbhi
pocket square by Tarun Tahiliani.
Pansari. Printed short-collared
Watch by Frederique Constant.
shirt by Sunil Mehra.
Face: Short stubble.
Face: Extended goatee
Hair: The business undercut:
on a long stubble.
Short sides and raised centre
Hair: Combed back with a and top to make you look taller.
GroomInG
Recommendations for getting
groomed to perfection:
Boy by Chanel has a perfect balance
between masculine and feminine notes
and makes you smell good for longer.
Advanced Hair Magic fibres that make
your hair appear thicker and heavier.
Beard Comb by Beardo to comb
and style the man hair.
Quintessentially membership card
for the global traveller that gives
access to the best spas, customised
lifestyle and bespoke services.
La Solution 10 De Chanel to
keep your skin hydrated as well as
looking fresher and younger.
Shaving brush by The Body
Shop to work up a rich lather.
Oil control cleanser by Kaya
Men to prevent build of oil.
Fabindia day lotion doubles as
a moisturiser and sunscreen.
Luxurious sandalwood and orange peel
shaving cream by Forest Essentials
that smells just as good as it feels.
Wella hair gel to give you a sculpted,
dry and long lasting style.
Fragrance kit by The Body
Shop, a perfect gift for the man
who likes to smell good.
Apricot scrub by Junaili, a natural
Himalayan solution for blackheads.
Himalayan Deodar soap by Kama
Ayurveda for a moisturising
chemical free bath.
Scrub by Kiehl’s, which removes
dead skin and impurities.
Beardo styling wax formulated
especially for facial hair.
Body cleanser by Kama Ayurveda,
a mild and effective shower gel that
substitutes the need for using soap.

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 113

 The 100 richesT indians
( t h o u g h t s)

On Being Rich
If this man had not
twelve thousand a
year, he would be a
very stupid fellow.
—Jane austen

If wealth was the

inevitable result
of hard work
People who advocate and enterprise,
simplicity have money every woman in
in the bank; the money
came first, not the Africa would be
simplicity. a millionaire.
—douGlas Coupland —GeorGe Monbiot

Wealth is not In my opinion, Everyone wants to ride with

about having a all boyfriends
should turn out
you in the limo, but what you
lot of money; to be secretly want is someone who will
it’s about having wealthy. take the bus with you when
a lot of options. —Claudia the limo breaks down.
—Chris roCk Gray —opraH WinFrey

A man is rich in Wealth, in even the That’s why

proportion to the most improbable they call it
number of things
Rock, opRah, WateRs: shutteRstock.com; Douglas:J. Vespa / WIReImage;

cases, manages to the American

which he can convey the aspect
of intelligence.
Dream, because
afford to let alone. you have to
geoRge: stephen cheRnIn / getty Images; henRy: getty Images

—Henry daVid —JoHn kennetH be asleep to

tHoreau GalbraitH believe it.
—GeorGe Carlin
Being rich is not about how much
money you have or how many The biggest challenge after success
homes you own; it’s the freedom is shutting up about it.
to buy any book you want —Criss JaMi
without looking at the price and
wondering if you can afford it. Wealth is like sea water; the Fortune
—JoHn Waters more we drink, the thirstier sides
we become; and the same is with him
This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. true of fame. who
But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery. —artHur dares.
—Frank Herbert sCHopenHauer —VirGil

114 | forbEs india December 21, 2016

 Hope you loved our
I NDIA

Tablet Edition

Do mail us your feedback at:

letterstoforbesindia@network18online.com