Despite China seeing a maximum 28 people joining the ranks of those with at least $one billion, India has managed to retain its position as Asia's biggest source of billionaires.
NEW YORK: The wealth amassed by Indian billionaires is more than 3.5 times those in China, even as the world's most populous nation saw the highest number of newcomers joining the billionaire club over the past one year.
Despite China seeing a maximum 28 people joining the ranks of those with at least $one billion, India has managed to retain its position as Asia's biggest source of billionaires.
With 19 newcomers, India has 53 billionaires with a combined wealth of $340.9 billion, according to the Forbes list of world's billionaires released on Thursday.
In comparison, China has 42 billionaires, second highest in Asia, with a combined wealth of $95 billion.
India and China are followed by Hong Kong (26), Japan (24) and Australia (14) in terms of number of billionaires.
Last year, India had overtaken Japan as the biggest Asian nation in terms of number of billionaires. Japan has slipped even below China and Hong Kong this year.
Besides, India also holds the honour of having the largest number of four billionaires in top ten, NRI steel baron Lakshmi Mittal (4th), Mukesh Ambani (5th), Anil Ambani (6th) and KP Singh (8th).
In the top ten, there are two Americans, Warren Buffet at the top and Bill Gates at third - and one each from Mexico (Carlos Slim Helu at second), Sweden (Ingvar Kamprad at 7th), Russia (Oleg Deripaska at 9th) and Germany (Karl Albrecht).
However, India still remains way below the US in terms of total number of such people, which has as many as 469 billionaires worth a total of $1.6 trillion. There are 656 non-US billionaires worth a total of $2.8 trillion. Among BRIC countries, Russia has the highest number of billionaires (88) with a combined wealth of over $470 billion. Brazil boasts of 18 billionaires worth $65.1 billion.
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