Adani Is Richer Than Ambani Now; And India Has 391 Dollar Billionaires
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New Delhi : India’s rich are not only getting richer but doing so at a faster pace, even as modern technologies is helping to democratise wealth, with more new dollar billionaires coming from the tech sector than from traditional business houses.
According to the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2026, Gautam Adani, after a brief setback last year caused by Hindenburg Research’s revelations, which sent the stock prices of his companies into a tailspin for a brief while, has reclaimed his top spot from Mukesh Ambani, with the Gautam Adani family having an estimated net wealth of Rs 9.23 lakh crore.
The Mukesh Ambani family came in second with a combined net wealth of Rs 8.63 lakh crore. While Adani’s wealth grew 13 per cent between last year and now, Ambani’s wealth declined by 10 per cent during the same period.
In comparison, Shah Rukh Khan, India’s richest actor, appears almost poor, with a net worth of Rs 10,000 crore. Nevertheless, he leads his Bollywood competition by a substantial margin.
The runner-up in the actors category is the evergreen Amitabh Bachchan, with a reported net wealth of Rs 4,000 crore, according to the report. Both Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan made their way to Mumbai in the hope of finding fame and fortune through films. Their success, and that of others like them may have inspired generations of young Indians to try the same thing, but today’s youth is looking elsewhere to make real wealth.
For the first time, the M3M Hurun India Rich List has added AI as a sector to track, since it is minting so many new billionaires. The AI sector racked up 19 entrants to the list, with a combined wealth of Rs 3.07 lakh crore.
As many as 15 of them were first-timers into the ranks of the rich. And Tanay Kothari and Sahaj Garg may well become the Amitabh-Shah Rukh for wannabe tech entrepreneurs. The co-founders of Wispr Flow, an AI startup, are listed with a wealth of Rs 4,200 crore each. And they are just 28 years old.
"The 2026 M3M Hurun India Rich List reflects the depth and dynamism of India’s wealth-creation story. With 70 percent of the 1,810 individuals being self-made and 347 new entrants, it is clear that India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to expand and diversify, with growing participation from younger entrepreneurs and women," said Payal Bansal Kanodia, Promoter M3M India & Chairperson & Trustee, M3M Foundation.
The 1,810 number Bansal Kanodia referred to is the total number of Indians that Hurun researchers estimated to have a wealth of at least Rs 1,000 crore – or over $100 million.
Of this 391 have more than $1 billion in wealth, 27 more than last year. In the last five years alone, more than a thousand Indians have joined this exclusive list --- the rich list numbered 800-odd in 2021 -- reflecting the widening and deepening of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as the power of technology and markets to create wealth in unexpected places.
But Mumbai remains the city of gold with most millionaires and billionaires. Mumbai had 465 entries in the list – the most for any Indian city. New Delhi followed with 236 and Bengaluru with 129. And women are making their presence felt in this listing of the ultra rich. There are 131 women on the list – up from 100 last year. With Rs 2.79 lakh crore, Roshni Nadar Malhotra is India’s richest woman.
