Anil Ambani is the biggest gainer, with his wealth soaring by $23.8 billion since last year’s Forbes list. He is only $1 billion ahead of elder brother Mukesh, who is the second biggest gainer with a rise of $22.9 billion in his net worth. While Mukesh is now valued at $43 billion, Anil’s net worth is valued at $42 billion.

India has retained its position as the top source of billionaires in Asia with a total of 53 people, who have a cumulative net worth of $340.9 billion on the list, consisting of 1,125 people with a combined wealth of $4.4 trillion.

The total number of Asian billionaires jumped by a third to 211 with a total wealth of $804 billion, up from $552 billion last year. India is followed by China (42), Hong Kong (26) and Japan (24) as the top source of billionaires in Asia. Gautam Adani has emerged as Asia’s richest newcomer to the list with a net worth of $9.3 billion while Anand Jain is the sixth richest newcomer with $3.4 billion. In Asia, China and India are the two top countries for newcomers with 28 and 19 billionaires respectively.

The richest person in this year’s Forbes list is American investor Warren Buffett, who has a net worth of $62 billion, higher than Slim’s $60 billion and Gates’ $58 billion. Ingvar Kamprad and family of Sweden, at $31 billion, are in the seventh place. Russia’s Oleg Deripaska ($28 billion) is ninth and Germany’s Karl Albrecht ($27 billion) is tenth.

Lakshmi Mittal Mittal, valued at $45 billion, has gained $13 billion from last year, pushing him one place higher to the fourth rank this year. He is at the helm of the world’s largest steel making company, Arcelor Mittal, and holds a 44 per cent stake in it. He lives in London. K P Singh has been recognised at the richest real estate baron in the world. The listing of his company, DLF, last year helped his fortune jump to $30 billion from $10 billion a year ago. Among Indians, Mittal, the Ambanis and Singh are followed by Ravi and Shashi Ruia, the brothers who run the Essar Group. They have occupied the 43rd position with a net worth of $15 billion. Wipro chairman Azim Premji is 60th with a net worth of $12.7 billion. Sunil Bharti Mittal and family come 64th with $11.8 billion and Kumarmangalam Birla is 76th with $10.2 billion.

These are followed by Unitech’s Ramesh Chandra (86th with $9.6 billion), Gautam Adani (91st with $9.3 billion), Savitri Jindal (110th with $8.2 billion), Anil Agarwal (164th with $6 billion), Adi Godrej (178th with $5.5 billion) and GMR’s G M Rao (198th with $5.2 billion).

The list also has Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and chief executive officer at Infosys Technologies Ltd, trader and investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Bajaj Auto Ltd chairman Rahul Bajaj, each with a net worth of $1 billion. Forbes said that the number of billionaires has crossed into four figures for the first time and two-thirds of them are self-made billionaires, having built their empires from scratch.