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India’s Mukesh Ambani makes it into list of world’s 10 richest people
- Asia’s wealthiest man has joined the exclusive club of the world’s top 10 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
- The Reliance Industries chairman saw his wealth jump to US$64.5 billion, as other billionaires have been hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic
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Asia’s richest man has entered a new league of wealth.
The net worth of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., has jumped to US$64.5 billion, making him the only Asian tycoon in the exclusive club of the world’s top 10 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He overtook Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. and France’s Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the wealthiest woman, to reach the number nine spot.
Ambani, who owns 42 per cent of Reliance, has benefited from a flurry of investment into the company’s digital unit, Jio Platforms, that Reliance said has made it net-debt free ahead of a March 2021 target. The shares of the Indian conglomerate have doubled from a low in March, just as other billionaires on the list have been hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
While the Indian economy “has been nearly decimated” during the lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19, “Mr Ambani’s companies (particularly the telecom giant Jio) have prospered, and his personal wealth has increased substantially”, said Jayati Ghosh, chair of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
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