Flipkart Founder Binny Bansal Youngest on Forbes Billionaire List

Flipkart's co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal have made it to the prestigious Forbes list of richest Indian billionaires for the first time, the magazine said on Wednesday. The Bansals, who founded Flipkart in 2007, debuted at the 86th position with a net worth of $1.3 billion each, Forbes said.

Flipkart's Binny Bansal is the youngest on the list at 32 years.

The list saw as many as 12 newcomers including Flipkart's founders and low-cost airline IndiGo's co-founder Rakesh Gangwal who debuted at 70th position with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Mr Gangwal's partner Rahul Bhatia moved up 12 positions to 38th position on the Forbes list with a net worth of $2.4 billion.

IndiGo, the country's bigger carrier according to market share, has got a nod for its Rs 2,500-crore initial public offer from market regulator Sebi.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani held on to this richest India tag for the ninth straight year with a net worth of $18.9 billion. Mr Ambani's wealth, however, dipped by $4.7 billion in a year.

Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi, who briefly displaced Mr Ambani as the India's richest earlier this year, took the second spot on the richest billionaire list with a net worth of $18 billion. IT major Wipro's Azim Premji retained his third place with $15.9 billion.

The combined wealth of India's 100 richest persons remained largely unchanged at $345 billion, as compared to $346 billion in 2014, Forbes said.

As many as 10 billionaires on the Forbes list saw their net worth dip by over $1 billion each in one year, including steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, whose net worth dipped to $4.6 billion (ranked 8th with $11.2 billion). His rank also slipped three places.

Personal fortunes of many of billionaires fell because of the decline in stock markets and depreciation in rupee, Forbes said.

Many billionaires also saw their net worth rise further. The biggest gainer was vaccine maker Serum's Cyrus Poonawalla whose wealth rose from $6.2 billion to $7.9 million, pushing his rank to the 9th position.

The minimum threshold for making it to the Forbes list increased from $1 billion to $1.1 billion in 2015, the magazine said.

In the top ten, Hinduja brothers were ranked 4th with $15.9 billion, followed by Pallonji Mistry at $14.7 billion, Shiv Nadar ($12. 9 billion), Godrej family ($11.4 billion), Lakshmi Mittal ($11.2 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla ($7.9 billion) and Kumar Mangalam Birla ($7.8 billion).