Note ban takes 11 out of India’s super rich club

India's super rich club has lost 11 members since the government's demonetisation move last November, a sign that cash account for much of the wealth even among business class in India.

The country now has 132 billionaires with a net worth of $1 billion or more and the cumulative wealth of the ultra-rich people stood at $392 billion, according to Hurun Global Rich List India.

While Mukesh Ambani remains the richest Indian with a net worth of $26 billion, newly-rich e-commerce entrepreneurs Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal dropped out of the Global Billionaires list, according to a report by Chinese business magazine Hurun.

Despite the fall in the number of billionaires in the country since demonetisation, the aggregate total wealth of the ultra-rich people has increased by 16 per cent over last year, the report said.

The Hurun India Rich List is topped by Mukesh Ambani, who is followed by S P Hinduja and family at the second position with a net worth of $14 billion, and Dilip Shanghvi at the third position with a wealth of $14 billion.

Others in the top 10 billionaires include Pallonji Mistry at the fourth place with $12 billion, Lakshmi N Mittal (at the fifth position with $12 billion), Shiv Nadar (6th, $12 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla (7th, $11 billion), Azim Premji (8th, $9.7 billion), Uday Kotak (9th, $7.2 billion) and David Reuben and Simon Reuben at the 10th place with $6.7 billion.

According to the Harun report, India's billionaire club had a tough time since the                 8 November demonetisation with the ebbing of cash flows.

"India had a tough year because of disruptive government policies such as demonetisation drive. However, on a long-term perspective, we do believe that such transparent currency economics will have a positive impact for the entrepreneurs," Hurun Report India managing director and chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid said.

Among cities, Mumbai is the capital for India's super rich as the city is home to 42 billionaires, followed by Delhi (21) and Ahmedabad (9).

In terms of billionaire spread state-wise, Maharashtra topped the list with 51 billionaires, followed by Delhi (22), Gujarat (10) and Karnataka (9).

Almost a third of the list has been replaced with 27 new additions and 31 dropouts vis-a-vis last year.

E-commerce entrepreneurs Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal dropped out of the Global Billionaires list, while Acharya Balakrishna of Patanjali was the wealthiest new face at the 29th position with a net worth of $3.7 billion.

Kiran-Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon is the only self-made woman billionaire with a wealth of $1.9 billion, the report added.

Regarding billionaire outflow, the report said that 32 individuals migrated from India and the UAE was the most preferred destination with 13 immigrants.