SINGAPORE: Four women have made it to this year’s Forbes India’s 100 Richest People list, including O P Jindal group Chairperson Savitri Jindal and Biotech pioneer Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
The other two women on the coveted list include Wife of Havell’s founder Vinod Gupta and USV Pharma Chairperson Leena Tewari.
The four women have a collective wealth of USD 11.28 billion while the total net worth of all 100 in the list amount to USD 381 billion.
Jindal has retained the tag of being the richest woman in India with a net worth of USD 5.2 billion, according to the annual India rich list compiled by business magazine Forbes.
Jindal was placed at 19th position, as her fortune increased with recovery in steel prices.
“(Her) Mumbai-based son Sajjan saw shares of his JSW Steel almost double in the past year. In May, he agreed to acquire a 1,000-megawatt thermal power unit for USD 750 million from his struggling younger sibling Naveen’s Jindal Power & Steel, which is weighed down by USD 3.6 billion in debt,” Forbes said.
Among the four women on the list, Jindal was followed by Vinod Gupta at 46th position with a net worth of USD 2.5 billion, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (65, USD 1.8 billion) and Leena Tewari at 79th rank (USD 1.62 billion).
Regarding Gupta, Forbes said buoyant sales of lighting and electrical fixtures boosted shares of Havells, founded by Gupta’s late husband and run by youngest son Anil Rai Gupta, who is listed with her this year.
Havells sold its 80 per cent stake in troubled European light manufacturer Sylvania in December for USD 160 million to Shanghai Feilo Acoustics. The company has recently started selling home-automation products and solar streetlights.
Mazumdar-Shaw, “India’s richest self-made woman” according to Forbes, was one of the eight returned to the ranks after their companies outperformed the stock market’s 12 per cent rise in the past year.
“Biotech pioneer Kiran Mazumdar Shaw’s wealth climbed along with shares of her listed Biocon, which have more than doubled in the past year. The company, Asia’s largest insulin producer, is aiming for a 10 per cent share of the global market,” Forbes said adding that shares of contract research arm Syngene are up 92 per cent since its IPO in August 2015.
Mazumdar-Shaw was recently awarded France’s highest civilian honor for her outstanding contribution to bioscience.
Tewari, who chairs privately held USV India, was ranked 79th on the list.
USV India was started by her late father as a joint venture with Revlon in 1961. USV specializes in diabetic and cardiovascular drugs, with a portfolio that spans biosimilar drugs and injectables and active pharmaceutical ingredients.–PTI
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