India's 100 richest includes only 4 women

Singapore, Sep 24: Four women feature in this year's Forbes list of 100 richest Indians including O P Jindal group Chairperson Savitri Jindal and generic drugs maker USV Pharma Chairperson Leena Tewari.

Wife of Havells founder, Vinod Gupta and Indu Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Co are the other two women in the list. The four women have a collective wealth of USD 9.2 billion and account for nearly three per cent of the total networth of all in the coveted list whose collective wealth amount to USD 345 billion.

Jindal has retained the tag of being the richest woman in India with a networth of USD 3.8 billion, according to the annual India rich list compiled by business magazine Forbes.

"After recovering last year, Savitri Jindal's O P Jindal group, which she chairs, saw its fortunes decline, mostly from a sharp fall in shares of Jindal Steel & Power, run by younger son Naveen.

The company shut down operations at its Australian mine, citing mounting losses," Forbes said. Jindal is ranked 23rd on the list which was topped by Mukesh Ambani for the ninth year in a row with a net worth of USD 18.9 billion.

Among the four women on the list, Jindal was followed by newcomer Leena Tewari who chairs privately held generics maker USV Pharma, ranked 54th on the list. On USV Pharma, Forbes said "the firm has its roots in a small venture started by her grandfather, Vithal Balkrishna Gandhi, a noted social reformer and politician, to import medicines.

It expanded into manufacturing in a joint venture with an American company in 1961." Indu Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Co was ranked 57th on the list with a networth of USD 1.9 billion.

Vinod Gupta, wife of Qimat Rai Gupta, who died in November 2014, appears on the list after inheriting her husband's shares in electrical fittings maker Havells India, though she doesn't hold an executive or board position. Gupta was ranked 74th on the list.

"Her husband founded the company in 1971 as an electrical trading business in Delhi. The USD 1.4 billion (revenues) Havells, which makes cables, fans and wires, is run by son Anil, the youngest of her 3 children. Fortune includes stake held by brother and nephew," Forbes said.

PTI