Small town billionaires, Gen Z entrepreneurs & professionals, India's richest no longer just legacy families

Where do the super-rich of India live? Though a large percentage are indeed concentrated in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, a significantly large number of them are also from tier 2-3 towns such as Udupi, Coimbatore and Haridwar. Wealth creation is certainly not limited to major cities. According to Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and MD, Hurun India, unlike a decade ago when their billionaire listing was limited to just 13 cities, in 2021 it was spread across 76. Hurun India, in partnership with IIFL Wealth, brings out the ‘IIFL Wealth Hurun India 40 & Under Self-Made Rich List’.

Along with the number of billionaires from smaller cities, the amount of wealth they have created is also way higher than what it was a decade ago. “To make it to the top 100 in 2012, the cut off was ₹1,800 crore, in 2021 it was ₹16,800 crore. The cut off for top 50 in 2012 was ₹5,900 crore, vis-à-vis ₹28,500 crore in 2021. Similarly, the cut off for the top 10 on the rich list was ₹30,800 crore in 2012, now it is ₹1,21,600 crore. India is among the fastest in terms of wealth creation,” explains Junaid.

The fact that a large number of wealth creators are from the world of technology startups isn’t surprising at all. Out of the 81 super rich in the software and technology category, 31 are new entrants. However, what is particularly surprising is that the maximum number of new entrants were from the chemicals and petrochemicals sectors. Out of the 98 incumbents in the chemicals and petrochemicals category, 45 of them entered the rich list in 2021. The pharma sector has the highest number of super rich entrepreneurs (a total of 130, out of which 8 were new entrants).

There is also an increasing trend of Gen Z’s making it to the rich list. “In 2012 the youngest entrant was Shivendra Singh of Fortis (then 37-years-old). In 2021, we have Shaswat Nakrani of BharatPe, who is just 23. I expect over 100 Gen Z entrepreneurs to enter the list next time round,” says Junaid. In addition to the small-town billionaires and Gen Z entrepreneurs, the Hurun India rich list also has 13 professional managers valued at over ₹1,000 crore.

India still has a long way to go in terms of the number of billionaires it generates every year. Hurun’s China list has 1,200 billionaires, out of which 300 were added this year. India has 237 billionaires, and it added 52 in 2021. “Most of the Chinese billionaires were from categories such as electric vehicles, blockchain and artificial intelligence. I see a lot of future wealth creators coming from these sectors in India too,” says Junaid.