India has the fourth highest number of billionaires in the world - a whopping 132!

The sixth annual Hurun Report was released today, announcing the newest ‘Nine-Zero Club’, or the newest list of billionaires around the world. The Hurun Global Rich List 2017, which is a definitive ranking of the billionaires currently found in the world in US Dollars, has taken into account the wealth of the members on this list as of 15th January, 2017.

The report states that there are 2,257 billionaires in the world, up by 69 from last year's 2,188. About the methodology followed, Hurun states, "Our team of researchers has – for the sixth year running – travelled the length and breadth of the country, cross-checking information with entrepreneurs, industry experts, journalists, bankers, and regulators, as well as previous years’ databases. For non-listed companies, our valuation was based on a comparison with their listed equivalents using prevailing industry multiples such as Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, EV to Sales, EV to EBITDA, and also other methodologies, including Discounted Cash Flow, Tobin’s Q and so on. In certain cases of early-stage companies, we have used the First Chicago Method for valuation."

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said, “Billionaires are concentrating wealth at a supercharged rate.” 1,037 on the list experienced a rise in their wealth compared to last year, while 740 saw a decline. And while 343 new faces appeared on the list, 276 didn't make it this time around.

China recorded the highest number of billionaires, followed by the US, with 609 and 552 billionaires respectively. While India was third on this list last year with 111 billionaires, that number has fallen to 100 this year, thus allowing Germany to overtake it for third place, with 109 billionaires.

Bill Gates, 61, held on to the top spot with a wealth of $81 billion, with Warren Buffet close on his heels at number two, with $78 billion. Jeff Bezos of Amazon snagged the number three spot with $72 billion.

As far as the top 100 on this list are concerned, there were 23 new entrants, with Elon Musk breaking into the top 100 for the first time.

The technology sector has brought in the largest amount of wealth for these billionaires, followed by manufacturing, investments and real estate. Logistics and retail are the fastest growing sectors. About this new trend, Hoogewerf said, “The new economy is driving an explosion in parcel deliveries, creating more new wealth than any other sector.”

Table source: Hurun

How India fared

Pharmaceuticals has created the highest number of billionaires - 20 - followed by Manufacturing and TMT, each with 10. The combined wealth of the Indian billionaires declined by 1 percent, to $304 billion. Mumbai is home to most of the Indian billionaires, followed by New Delhi. Mukesh Ambani tops India's list with $26 billion, ranked 21 in the world. Thirty two billionaires migrated from India, mostly to the UAE, UK and US - thus making the number 132, if you consider origins. Amongst the new entrants on the list were Patanjali’s Acharya Balakrishnan and Paytm’s VSS. Demonetisation stole away 11 of India's billionaires. The Bansals of Flipkart also bowed out of this list. The list constitutes 123 men and 9 women.

Here's is a geographical segregation of India's Billionaires 

Source: Hurun Global Rich list; Hurun India Rich list

Here is an Industry wise classification of the Indian Billionaires 

Source: Hurun Global Rich list; Hurun India Rich list

Other highlights

Women make up 15 percent of the list. Of the 152 self-made female billionaires, a whopping 79.5 percent reside in China. The richest woman in the world is 94-year-old Liliane Bettencourt of L’oreal, with a fortune worth $37 billion. The richest self-made woman in the world is Beijing real estate queen Chen Lihua, with $7.2 billion. China is, thus, the best place in the world if you are a female entrepreneur. The youngest billionaire is 26-year-old Hugh Grosvenor, who inherited $15 billion from his father Gerald. And the youngest self-made billionaire is Evan Spiegel, 26, of Snapchat, worth $5 billion.