Mukesh Ambani, the richest Indian, minted Rs 7 Cr every hour in 2019

India added more than three dollar billionaires every month in 2019, taking its tally to 138 and featuring at the third position globally, a report says.

According to the ninth edition of the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, which has a list of 2,817 individuals across the globe having a net worth of $1 billion or more, the world added 480 billionaires in 2019, more than one a day. China added more than three a week while India did more than three billionaires a month.

India got 34 new billionaires to take the count to 138. The list was topped by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, with $67 billion in net worth - he minted Rs 7 crore every hour!

The number rises to 170 if Indian-origin billionaires outside the country are tallied.

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China and the US occupied the first and second spot with 799 and 626 billionaires, respectively.

However, according to the report, China is home to more billionaires than the US and India combined, and is set to add many more pharma billionaires this year as the communist nation fights a deadly coronavirus epidemic that has already killed more than 2,710 people since mid-January.

There is no surprise that Mumbai is home to more than a third of the richest individuals in the country with 50 of them living in the megapolis, making it the ninth richest city globally, followed by New Delhi with 30, Bengaluru with 17, and Ahmedabad with 12.

With $67 billion, Ambani is also the ninth richest man in the world. The list is topped by Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $140 billion.

The second on the list is SP Hinduja family ($27 billion in net worth), followed by Gautam Adani (a little over $17 billion), Shiv Nadar & family (close to $17 billion), and Lakshmi Mittal (over $15 billion).

At the sixth position is banker Uday Kotak with a net worth of around $15 billion, making him the richest self-made banker in the whole world.

At the seventh slot is Azim Premji ($14 billion), followed by Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute ($12 billion), and Cyrus Pallonji Mistry and his son Shapoor Pallonji ($11 billion) each.

OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal, all of just 24 years, is the youngest Indian in the rich list with a net worth of $1.1 billion.

Hurun Report India Managing Director Anas Rahman Junaid said Indian billionaires were defying gravity as the deepening slowdown did not seem to hamper their growth.

The year 2019 was a good one for stock markets globally, with US bourses rallying 26 percent and the Indian and Chinese indices gaining 15 percent and 14 percent.

The 50 billionaires of Mumbai control around $218 billion of wealth between them, followed by the 30 in New Delhi who hold $76 billion. The 17 billionaires in Bengaluru are worth $42 billion, while the 12 in Ahmedabad hold $36 billion. The seven billionairs in Hyderabad are worth $13 billion, Junaid said.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)