Yoga guru Ramdev's aide Balkrishna, who is co-founder of consumer goods company Patanjali Ayurved, has debuted on Forbes magazine's '100 Richest Indians' list.
Forbes pegged his net worth at $2.5 billion (nearly Rs 16,000 crore) and he was ranked at 48th position on the list. The magazine attributed his net worth to his 97 per cent holding in Patanjali Ayurved, which he co-founded with yoga guru Ramdev.
Patanjali Ayurved, which is one of the fastest growing consumer goods company in India, had clocked revenues of nearly Rs 5,000 crore last year. It expects to double revenue this fiscal.
Though Ramdev holds no shares in Patanjali, he is the company's de facto brand ambassador, while Balkrishna runs operations, Forbes said.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani topped Forbes's list of India's 100 richest tycoons with a net worth of $22.7 billion. The combined net worth of India's 100 wealthiest was pegged at $381 billion, a rise of 10 per cent from $345 billion in 2015.
Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi also retained his second position, though his wealth fell by $1.1 billion due to plunge in share price of his group firm.
The Hinduja Family moved up to the third position ($15.2 billion) on the annual Forbes list of India's 100 Richest People. Wipro's Azim Premji slipped one place to fourth with a net worth of $15 billion.
Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Flipkart's co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal made a surprise exit from the richest 100 club. (Read more)
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