Forbes Billionaire List-The top 40 Indians

Dear All,

Just putting the recent Forbes Billionaire List-The top 40 Indians who are listed in it.

1 Lakshmi Mittal
Age: 55Net Worth: $ 20.0 billionHometown: LondonMarried, 2 Children
Oversees world's largest steel company, $22 billion (2004 sales) Mittal Steel. His personal stake: 87.4%. Double-digit drop in U.S. and European steel prices led to 64% fall in third-quarter profits; for past 9 months down only 13%. Recently bought Ukraine's largest steelmaker in a televised auction.

2 Azim Premji
Age: 60Net Worth: $ 11.0 billionHometown: BangaloreMarried, 2 Children
Owns 82% of New York-listed Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter. Lost a few key executives this year, including vice chairman Vivek Paul.

3 Mukesh Ambani
Age: 48Net Worth: $ 7.0 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 3 Children
Feud with brother Anil ended this June after their mother brokered a settlement, which is awaiting court approval. Mukesh will maintain control of $16 billion (sales) Reliance Industries, the petrochemicals major whose stock is up more than 40% since the announcement.

4 Anil Ambani
Age: 46Net Worth: $ 5.5 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
After split with brother, Anil now runs newly christened Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises group, offshoot of Reliance empire, with interests in telecom, energy and financial services. Has been making high-profile acquisitions, mainly in entertainment and insurance.

5 Kushal Pal Singh
Age: 74Net Worth: $ 5.0 billionHometown: DelhiMarried, 3 Children
Former army officer turned property baron. Joined father-in-law's Delhi Land & Finance in 1971. Built Gurgaon, his showpiece township on outskirts of Delhi, by acquiring chunks of land from farmers. Today DLF group, run by son Rajiv, with daughter Pia overseeing retail projects, is India's biggest real estate developer.

6 Sunil Mittal
Age: 48
Net Worth: $ 4.9 billionHometown: DelhiMarried, 3 Children
In 10 years built his Bharti group into India's largest mobile phone operator, with 14 million customers. Vodafone bought a 10% stake in Bharti Televenture, his joint venture with Singtel, for $1.5 billion in October. Now partnering with Axa in a new insurance venture.

7 Kumar Birla
Age: 38Net Worth: $ 4.4 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 3 Children
Fourth-generation head of $7.6 billion (sales) Aditya Birla group, a commodities powerhouse named after his late father. Announced merger of his fertilizer, finance and textile companies to create Aditya Birla Nuvo.

8 Tulsi Tanti
Age: 47Net Worth: $ 3.7 billionHometown: PuneMarried, 2 Children
Faced with escalating power costs, this former textile producer moved into wind energy a decade ago, eventually building Asia's largest wind farm. In October listed his Suzlon Energy, in which he and 3 siblings own 70%. Expanding into the U.S., China and Australia.

9 Pallonji Mistry
Age: 76Net Worth: $ 3.3 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 4 Children
Secretive construction magnate is biggest shareholder in Tata Sons, a holding company that has a big stake in India's largest software company, Tata Consultancy Services. Also owns direct selling outfit Eureka Forbes, the subject of a Harvard case study.

10 Anurag Dikshit
Age: NANet Worth: $ 3.1 billionHometown: NA
Owns 30.4% of Internet casino company PartyGaming, which went public in London in June. Earned degree in computer science and engineering from Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. In 1998, at age 25, began working with the then 1-year-old company. Eventually wrote the betting software that enabled gamblers around the world to play one another in poker. Today manages the Gibraltar company's operations.

11 Shiv Nadar
Age: 60Net Worth: $ 3.0 billionHometown: DelhiMarried, One Child
Founded and runs $2.5 billion (sales) infotech group HCL, with operations in 15 countries. A leading employer in Northern Ireland, where it has an offshore center with 2,500 people. Customers include Boeing, IBM and Autodesk; has new venture with Japan's NEC.

12 Shashi & Ravi Ruia
Age: 62Net Worth: $ 2.7 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Benefiting from India's economic boom, the brothers' Essar group is paying off debt and looking to expand its main businesses in steel, shipping, power and oil & gas. Bets in telecom have paid off handsomely; their 33% stake in mobile company Hutchison Essar, which plans to list, is worth at least $2 billion.

13 Adi Godrej
Age: 63Net Worth: $ 2.3 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 3 Children
His $1.3 billion (sales) Godrej group makes consumer products, including soaps, hair dyes, cooking oil and office furniture. Recently bought a British toiletries and cosmetics brand and UAE poultry company. Family's biggest asset is its landholdings in Mumbai.

14 Anil Agarwal
Age: 52Net Worth: $ 2.1 billionHometown: LondonMarried, 2 Children
Built London-listed Vedanta Resources by acquiring state-owned mining, metal assets in India. Has copper mines in Zambia and Australia. In a top management reshuffle, Agarwal moved to executive chairman; his brother became deputy executive chairman.

15 Dilip Shanghvi
Age: 50Net Worth: $ 2.0 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Low-profile Shanghvi derives fortune from 72% stake in Sun Pharmaceuticals, a company he founded in 1983. Expanded Sun in part through acquisitions. Recently purchased manufacturing sites in Hungary and the U.S. in order to tap overseas generics markets.

16 Naresh Goyal
Age: 56Net Worth: $ 1.9 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Former airline agent started operating Jet Airways in 1993. Now India's biggest domestic airline, Jet successfully went public this year; launched international flights to London, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur; and placed a $2.5 billion order for 30 new planes. Wife, Anita, heads sales and marketing.

17 Indu Jain
Age: NANet Worth: $ 1.7 billionHometown: Delhi
Matriarch of privately owned Bennett, Coleman & Co., India's largest and most powerful media house, run by sons Samir and Vineet. The family's flagship holding, The Times of India, is the world's largest circulated English daily newspaper, selling more than 3.1 million copies a day. The company also has joint ventures with the BBC and Reuters.

18 Venugopal Dhoot
Age: 52Net Worth: $ 1.6 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Son of a wealthy farmer, snatched one of India's first licenses to make color TVs. Videocon, the $2.5 billion (sales) group that he and his family control, now makes everything from washing machines to VCRs to MP3 players. Recently bought a color picture tube business from France's Thomson and a refrigerator unit from Sweden's Electrolux. Also has lucrative interests in oil exploration. Brother Rajkumar is a member of Parliament.

19 Malvinder & Shivinder Singh
Age: NANet Worth: $ 1.6 billionHometown: Delhi
Brothers inherited family's Ranbaxy Laboratories, now a $1.2 billion (sales) pharmaceutical firm. Company's profits and stock have taken a hit this year, but brothers' private holdings are up. Malvinder is president of Ranbaxy's pharma business. Younger sibling Shivinder runs Fortis, the family's hospital chain, which bought one of India's leading cardiac institutes.

20 Rahul Bajaj
Age: 67Net Worth: $ 1.5 billionHometown: PuneMarried, 2 Children
After years of bickering with younger brother Shishir, agreed to split up family fortune. Rahul will keep control of $1.4 billion (sales) Bajaj Auto, which he ran for almost 4 decades; its stock doubled in the past year. Sons Rajiv and Sanjiv now manage daily operations.

21 Jindal family
Age: NANet Worth: $ 1.4 billionHometown: Delhi, Mumbai
Family patriarch, Om Prakash Jindal, died in a helicopter crash in March. Sons Prithvi, Sajjan, Ratan and Navin are now restructuring and divvying up the tangled steel-and-power empire their father founded. This separation, agreed upon during their father's lifetime, seems amicable.

22 Baba Kalyani
Age: 56Net Worth: $ 1.2 billionHometown: PuneMarried, One Child
MIT engineer heads family's $1.5 billion (sales) Kalyani group. In addition to a stake worth $630 million in Bharat Forge, Asia's largest forging manufacturer, the family's holdings include stakes in BF Utilities—the financial services and windmill divisions that were spun off from Bharat Forge—Kalyani Steels and Automotive Axles.

23 Brijmohan Lall Munjal
Age: 83Net Worth: $ 1.2 billionHometown: DelhiMarried, 4 Children
Started out making bicycle parts. Now his Hero group, run by his 3 sons, has a 50% share of India's motorcycle market and continues to benefit from a long-standing partnership with Honda in India; Hero Honda's stock zoomed 86% in the past year.

24 Yusuf Hamied
Age: 69Net Worth: $ 1.2 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried
With brother, runs generics producer Cipla, whose stock is up more than 50% since last year. Edged out GlaxoSmithkline as India's largest pharmaceutical firm. Hamied was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors.

25 Vivek Burman
Age: 64Net Worth: $ 1.1 billionHometown: DelhiMarried, 2 Children
With his family, owns 77% of Dabur, a maker of herbal products whose stock has nearly doubled this year. Family also has interests in pharma, insurance, banking and financial services. Recently bought stake in a tractor company.

26 N R Narayana Murthy
Age: 59 Net Worth: $ 1.1 billionHometown: BangaloreMarried, 2 Children
One of India's most respected business leaders, Murthy cofounded and chairs software firm Infosys Technologies. He is an IT adviser to several Asian countries. Stung by a former prime minister's unsubstantiated allegations of land-grabbing by Infosys, Murthy recently resigned from honorary post as chairman of state-owned Bangalore International Airport.

27 Uday Kotak
Age: 46Net Worth: $ 1.0 billionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Spurned his family's trading business for financial services. Today his Kotak Mahindra Bank serves 1.5 million customers and has offices in New York, London, Dubai and Mauritius. Has partnerships with Goldman Sachs and Old Mutual. A personal investment in cellular operator Hutchison Essar has soared lately.

28 Vijay Mallya
Age: 49Net Worth: $ 950 millionHometown: BangaloreMarried, 2 Children
Liquor tycoon who is dubbed the "king of good times" has never had it so good. After 20-year wait bought out archrival Shaw Wallace. Also bagged Scottish & Newcastle as a partner in beer. Consolidating liquor empire into newly named United Spirits. Plans to take his Kingfisher Airlines, launched in May and named after his bestselling beer, public.

29 Subhash Chandra
Age: 55Net Worth: $ 900 millionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Pioneering media baron is credited with launching India's satellite television revolution. But his Zee TV has lost its prime-time domination to competitors like Sony and Star. Recently launched Daily News & Analysis, a newspaper in Mumbai. Other holdings in theme parks, packaging, lotteries and cinema multiplexes.

30 Vikrant Bhargava
Age: 33Net Worth: $ 870 millionHometown: NA
Former credit officer owns 8.6% of Gibraltar-based Internet casino outfit PartyGaming, which went public in London in June. Earned degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Joined gaming group in 2000 as marketing head and helped create early buzz by staging online poker tournament with a $1 million prize.

31 Habil Khorakiwala
Age: 63Net Worth: $ 800 millionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 3 Children
Runs pharmaceutical firm Wockhardt, which gets more than half of its $288 million in sales from the U.S. and Europe. Has new ventures in Mexico, South Africa and Brazil. Owns a hospital chain.

32 Ajay Piramal
Age: 50Net Worth: $ 765 millionHometown: MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Inherited fading textile empire at age 28. Built pharma group Nicholas Piramal through well-timed acquisitions. Teaming with Sweden's AstraZeneca in contract manufacturing. Turned over family's smaller businesses in retailing, textiles and real estate to sister-in-law and nephews this year, amid speculation of an acrimonious family split.

33 Nandan Nilekani
Age: 50Net Worth: $ 740 millionHometown: BangaloreMarried, 2 Children
Infosys cofounder and chief executive. His family donated $22 million this year to a charity founded by his wife that focuses on water issues, such as purification, rainwater harvesting and getting supplies to the poor.

34 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Age: 52Net Worth: $ 710 millionHometown: BangaloreMarried
Started out making industrial enzymes in her garage. Today she is chairman of biopharmaceutical firm Biocon; currently developing a nasal insulin spray and cancer drugs with American and Cuban partners. Owns 65% of the company with her Scottish husband and Biocon's vice chairman, John Shaw.

35 S Gopalakrishnan
Age: 51Net Worth: $ 700 millionHometown: BangaloreMarried, One Child
Infosys cofounder and chief operating officer. Big donor to his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai.

36 B Ramalinga Raju
Age: 50Net Worth: $ 670 millionHometown: HyderabadMarried, 2 Children
Expanded out of family construction business in 1987 to start Satyam Computer, which he runs. Bought U.K. consulting firm Citisoft for $35 million earlier this year, then sold his Nasdaq-listed Internet venture Sify to a Silicon Valley venture capitalist for $63 million.

37 Narendra Patni
Age: 63Net Worth: $ 650 millionHometown: Boston, MumbaiMarried, 2 Children
Founded Patni Computer Systems with his two brothers in 1978. Known as the place where Infosys cofounders began their careers. The company went public last year and just listed on the NYSE.

38 Karsanbhai Patel
Age: 61Net Worth: $ 640 millionHometown: AhmedabadMarried, 3 Children
India's detergent king; his Nirma brand is India's biggest, ahead of Unilever and P&G. It has used same radio spot to promote Nirma for 35 years. Acquired a money losing medical supplies company.

39 Jaiprakash Gaur
Age: 75Net Worth: $ 600 millionHometown: Delhi Married, 5 Children
Patriarch of Jaypee group, a construction and power conglomerate. Now building an expressway from Delhi to Agra, site of the famous Taj Mahal. Other businesses include hotels, golf courses, cement.

40 Narotam Sekhsaria
Age: 56Net Worth: $ 590 millionHometown: Mumbai Married, 2 Children
With his brother-in-law, founded and controls cement producer Gujarat Ambuja. Swiss cement giant Holcim recently paid $800 million to acquire stakes in 2 affiliated companies of Ambuja.

Warm regards,

Manas Nayak