Biggies wealth eroded

It was not long back that many Indian promoters figured in the global billionaire list. The Sensex’s rise last year saw the likes of DLF’s KP Singh coming out of nowhere and becoming the third richest Indian for a while. And there was much speculation as to when, rather than if, Mukesh and Anil Ambani would eclipse Bill Gates.

However, the recent stock market turmoil has resulted in an erosion of net worth of India’s wealthy lot, which is just as spectacular as the rise was. In all, the net worth of India’s top 10 promoters is down by 35% since the peak in early January.

Indian biggies including Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, DLF’s Singh, Tatas and Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel have seen their combined net worth shrink by around $100 billion in the last two months.

Topping the list of losers is India’s biggest real estate baron KP Singh. His net worth has nearly halved to $22.5 billion from a peak of $45 billion in January.

Next in line is Anil Ambani. His personal wealth, as denoted by his holdings in group companies, has declined by over $21 billion, or 46%, to around $25 billion. Big Brother Mukesh Ambani has done relatively better with his net worth falling to $41 billion from a peak of $58 billion.

Another real estate baron to lose heavily during this meltdown is Ramesh Chandra of Unitech, whose market cap has halved since this bear phase began. The Hinduja Group too has taken a knock with the market value of its holdings down by nearly 43%.

The promoters who have seen maximum wealth erosion are those with business interests in real estate, power and energy. These sectors, which were the darlings of the markets all of last year, are suddenly seen as untouchables.

In order to calculate a promoter’s net worth, we have excluded the cross-holding among group companies. For instance, to calculate Mukesh Ambani’s net worth, we have excluded the value of RIL’s stake in Reliance Petroleum.

Via ET