Indian wealth at this level is often organised around family business groups. The sources of wealth below include diversified conglomerates, steel, vaccines, software services, pharmaceuticals and retail. Several of the largest groups operate in many industries at once.
The captured Forbes dataset records 236 billionaires with Indian citizenship; this list takes the hundred largest. Amounts are shown in US dollars. A weaker or stronger rupee can change the dollar figure even when share prices in Mumbai do not move.
Who is the richest person in India?
Mukesh Ambani, with an estimated net worth of US$86.3bn, according to Forbes’ real-time list as captured on 12 September 2026.
How diversified groups are valued
A “diversified” label usually means a fortune spread across several listed and unlisted companies under one family’s control. Those holdings can range from energy and telecoms to ports and consumer goods. Valuing such a group means adding together stakes held through holding companies and cross-shareholdings, which leaves room for different estimates.
Citizenship and where people live
This list follows Forbes’ citizenship field, which is not a statement about where a person lives. People of Indian origin who hold another citizenship appear under that country instead, so some well-known names of Indian heritage may be absent. The label does not describe where a business operates or where tax is paid.
Promoters and pledged shares
Indian company founders and their families, known in market terms as promoters, often hold large stakes in their own listed companies. Some of those shares can be pledged as security for loans. Forbes estimates the value of the stakes; it does not publish a balance sheet for each person, so borrowing against shares is not always visible in the figure.
What this snapshot shows
Mukesh Ambani leads this captured list at approximately US$86.31bn. The entry at number 100, Bhadresh Shah, is approximately US$2.49bn. The first ten account for 45.9% of the sum of the hundred reported values. That share is calculated within this list; it is not a share of all wealth in India.
The first ten
Mukesh Ambani
Source of wealth: Diversified ·
Mukesh Ambani’s net worth is about US$86.3bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Mukesh Ambani left an MBA course at Stanford in 1980 to join Reliance, his father Dhirubhai’s textiles and polyester business. He led major projects including the Jamnagar refinery. After his father’s death in 2002, the group was divided between him and his brother Anil.
As chairman of Reliance Industries, he has extended it from refining and petrochemicals into telecommunications through Jio and into retail. His fortune is tied mainly to his holding in Reliance, India’s largest listed company by market value.
Gautam Adani
Source of wealth: Infrastructure, commodities ·
Gautam Adani’s net worth is about US$82.5bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Gautam Adani left school at 16 and worked as a diamond sorter in Mumbai before founding a commodity-trading firm in 1988. That firm, now Adani Enterprises, became the parent of the Adani Group.
The group, which he chairs, grew around the port at Mundra in Gujarat and expanded into power, airports, cement, mining and renewable energy. His wealth is tied to the market value of its listed companies. These fell steeply in 2023 after a short seller’s report, then recovered in 2024.
Savitri Jindal & family
Source of wealth: Steel ·
Savitri Jindal and family are worth about US$39.8bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Savitri Jindal’s family is associated with the industrial group founded by her husband, O. P. Jindal. Steel is at the centre of the story, with related businesses in areas such as energy and infrastructure. Following his death in 2005, the family’s industrial interests continued through businesses led by the next generation.
Forbes lists her together with her family. The total therefore reflects a collection of interests rather than one salary or one factory. It shows the scale of wealth that can be built around the materials used in construction, manufacturing and transport.
Lakshmi Mittal
Source of wealth: Steel ·
Lakshmi Mittal’s net worth is about US$34.7bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Lakshmi Mittal’s father ran a steel business in India, and in 1976 Mittal opened his own first plant, in Indonesia. From the late 1980s he expanded by buying state-owned or struggling steelworks in countries including Mexico, Kazakhstan, Romania and Poland.
Mittal Steel then won a contested takeover of the European steelmaker Arcelor, and the combined business became ArcelorMittal in 2007. He remains its executive chairman and a large shareholder, the core of his wealth. He also chairs the stainless-steel producer Aperam.
Cyrus Poonawalla
Source of wealth: Vaccines ·
Cyrus Poonawalla’s net worth is about US$28.4bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Cyrus Poonawalla, whose father bred horses in Pune, founded the Serum Institute of India in the city in 1966. It set out to make immunobiological products that India then imported at high prices. Early products included tetanus antitoxin, snake antivenom and vaccines.
The Serum Institute grew into the world’s largest vaccine maker by number of doses. It supplies immunisation programmes run by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and others. It belongs to the Cyrus Poonawalla Group, which he chairs, and his son Adar is its chief executive.
Shiv Nadar
Source of wealth: Software services ·
Shiv Nadar’s net worth is about US$27.4bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Shiv Nadar, an electrical engineer, founded HCL with a group of colleagues in 1976, initially making computer hardware. Its software and services arm, HCL Technologies, was spun off in 1991. It became the main business and one of India’s largest IT services companies.
Nadar passed the chair of HCL Technologies to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, in 2020. In 2025 he gifted her large stakes in the family holding companies that control HCL. Much of his attention has turned to education through the Shiv Nadar Foundation.
Dilip Shanghvi
Source of wealth: Pharmaceuticals ·
Dilip Shanghvi’s net worth is about US$25.9bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Dilip Shanghvi grew up in Kolkata, where his father traded generic medicines, and decided to manufacture drugs rather than only distribute them. He founded Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in 1983 with a small range of psychiatric medicines. The company listed in 1994.
Sun Pharma grew through acquisitions, including a controlling stake in Taro Pharmaceutical and the purchase of Ranbaxy Laboratories, becoming India’s largest drugmaker. It sells medicines in more than 100 countries. The founding family’s majority stake is the basis of Shanghvi’s fortune.
Kumar Birla
Source of wealth: Diversified ·
Kumar Birla’s net worth is about US$23.1bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Kumar Mangalam Birla became chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, aged 28, after the death of his father, Aditya Vikram Birla. A chartered accountant who studied at London Business School, he consolidated the family’s companies under the group’s name.
He expanded through acquisitions, including Indal, the cement business that became UltraTech and the aluminium products maker Novelis, which Hindalco bought in 2007. The group’s interests also include textiles, chemicals, fashion retail, financial services and a stake in the telecoms operator Vodafone Idea.
Radhakishan Damani
Source of wealth: Retail, investments ·
Radhakishan Damani’s net worth is about US$14.3bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Radhakishan Damani left his ball-bearing business after his father’s death to become a stockbroker and investor in Mumbai. In 2000 he stepped back from the market to build a hypermarket chain, opening the first DMart in Powai in 2002.
Run by Avenue Supermarts, DMart kept prices low and owned most of its larger-than-average stores. It listed in 2017 and now has more than 500 stores across India. Damani also holds stakes in other listed companies, reflecting the investing career that came first.
Uday Kotak
Source of wealth: Banking ·
Uday Kotak’s net worth is about US$14bn, according to Forbes’ estimate captured on 12 September 2026.
Uday Kotak started a bill-discounting firm in Mumbai in 1985 with money borrowed from family and friends. Early investment from Harish and Anand Mahindra gave it the name Kotak Mahindra Finance. It expanded into car finance, investment banking, mutual funds and life insurance.
In 2003 it became one of India’s first non-banking finance companies to convert into a bank. Kotak stepped down as chief executive in 2023 but remains on the board. His wealth rests mainly on his stake, reduced over time to meet Reserve Bank of India rules.
The ranking continues: 11–100
Forbes · ranking and methodology
- Estimated net worth: US$13,805,834,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$13,035,413,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$12,957,385,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$11,408,232,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$10,727,401,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,409,478,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$9,118,884,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,827,083,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,529,683,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,506,488,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,164,637,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$8,164,514,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,872,024,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,608,800,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,170,197,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$7,002,596,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,534,310,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,230,220,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$6,196,836,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,927,777,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,748,296,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,713,599,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,713,599,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,668,418,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,617,778,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,600,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,506,450,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,479,790,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,427,933,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,034,066,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,034,062,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$5,027,555,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,955,881,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,855,464,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,805,580,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,716,394,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,413,198,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,292,156,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,200,635,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,176,719,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,122,858,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,122,823,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,122,823,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,110,540,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,081,042,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,051,583,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$4,000,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,997,181,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,984,364,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,946,711,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,814,849,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,696,902,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,636,866,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,619,740,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,613,174,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,585,074,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,572,579,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,545,012,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,530,143,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,364,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,349,207,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,298,415,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,296,459,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,294,644,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,278,300,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,267,426,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,171,713,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,098,659,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,024,234,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$3,004,217,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,994,243,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,993,690,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,993,113,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,953,632,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,921,767,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,914,344,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,895,000,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,823,526,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,797,786,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,766,732,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,763,400,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,753,051,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,729,081,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,723,740,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,707,245,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,694,557,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,661,709,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,620,991,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,563,152,000.00
- Estimated net worth: US$2,486,012,000.00
There is always a story.
The largest fortunes in this list rest on business groups and founder-led companies. Their estimated values on 12 September 2026 depend on share prices, family structures and the rupee, all of which can shift between one snapshot and the next.