Savitri Jindal, India’s richest woman, has surpassed software billionaire Azim Premji in net worth, with a current net worth of about $25 billion. While Savitri Devi Jindal, the emeritus chairman of JSW Steel, saw his fortune rise 87% in the last two years, Azim Premji saw his money fall 42% during the same time period.
In reality, Azim Premji, who was the country’s third richest person after Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani around two years ago, has seen his net worth plummet since January 2022. Wipro’s share has fallen by 42% in the last two years. Wipro’s founder chairman’s fortune has also dropped to $24 billion as of Monday.
Azim Premji is now ranked sixth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, following Savitri Jindal. While Savitri Jindal derived the majority of Premji’s income from his 62.5% holding in Wipro, Savitri Jindal’s interests cover steel, power, cement, and infrastructure. According to a Bloomberg computation, Premji’s share in Wipro is worth $16.5 billion as of Friday.
| Top 10 richest people in the country | ||
| S.No. | Name | Net Worth ($ bn) |
| 1 | Mukesh Ambani | 92.12 |
| 2 | Gautam Adani | 85.15 |
| 3 | Shapoor Pallonji Mistry | 33.6 |
| 4 | Shiv Nadar | 31.59 |
| 5 | Savitri Devi Jindal | 24.6 |
| 6 | Azim Premji | 24 |
| 7 | Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi | 20.39 |
| 8 | Radhakishan Damani | 19.42 |
| 9 | Lakshmi Mittal | 18.79 |
| 10 | Kumar Birla | 17.19 |
| Source: Bloomberg | ||
JSW Steel, Jindal’s flagship company, generated over 30% of her fortune. While JSW Infrastructure adds $4.8 billion to her fortune, other companies such as Jindal Steel & Power and JSW Energy collectively account for around $4.6 billion.
JSW Energy’s stock has gained the most among group firms, with a 59% increase so far in 2023. That was followed by Jindal Steel & Power and JSW Steel, which had increased by 24% and 10%, respectively, since January. Jindal Steel & Power’s stock rose as much as 5% on Monday, reaching a 52-week high of 728.95 on the NSE.
Surprisingly, the rise in Tata Group stock prices enhanced Mistry’s position in the country’s wealth rankings. With an 18.4% interest in Tata Sons, Shapoor Pallonji Mistry and his family are among the company’s major shareholders. While Mistry is placed third, Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Technologies, is ranked fourth with a net worth of $31.6 billion.
Premji, a 78-year-old businessman known more for his compassion than his money and economic acumen. On March 14, 2019, Premji’s foundation stated that Premji had set aside an extra $7.5 billion in Wipro shares for charitable purposes. The donation, however, has not been deducted from his net wealth because the promoter entities retain voting rights and the shareholding stays intact even after the announcement.