The year 2025 has proved to be a year of sweet and sour memories for Indian billionaires. On one hand, while the coffers of some industrialists were filled to the brim, on the other hand, the ups and downs of the market made a big dent in the wealth of many tycoons. This year, in the race to earn wealth, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani remained at the forefront, while Gautam Adani made a strong comeback by winning the trust of investors. However, this year was a bit heavy for the giants of IT and real estate sector. Let us understand in detail what major changes took place in the rich list of India in 2025.
Ambani’s ‘super’ earnings
Latest figures from Bloomberg Billionaires Index show that the year 2025 was like a golden dream for Mukesh Ambani. His total wealth has increased by a whopping $16.50 billion in this one year alone. The main reason for this tremendous growth was the excellent performance of his company Reliance Industries.
Reliance shares jumped almost 30% in the market, giving their best performance since 2020. There were several solid reasons behind this, including increase in refining margins, increase in telecom tariffs and strong performance of the retail business. Apart from this, the news of value unlocking in the company also increased the enthusiasm of the investors, the direct benefit of which was seen in the net worth of Mukesh Ambani.
Adani’s comeback, Mittal’s double blast
Steel King and Arcelor-Mittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal has also set new earnings records this year. About $12 billion was added to the wealth of Mittal, the world’s second largest steel maker, taking his total wealth to beyond $31 billion. At the same time, Airtel owner Sunil Mittal also did not look back. Due to the 31% rise in Airtel shares and 89% jump in profits, his wealth increased by $6 billion to $29 billion.
For Gautam Adani, this was a year of saving reputation and making a comeback. In the Hindenburg case, the clean chit received from SEBI worked as a lifeline. This restored investor confidence and the rise in Adani Group’s shares added $5.9 billion to its wealth. Now with a wealth of $84 billion, he remains the second richest person in India after Mukesh Ambani. Apart from these, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group and Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank have also added billions of dollars to their wealth.
Big blow to tech and realty giants
While on one hand wealth was pouring in, on the other hand there were clouds of recession in some sectors. HCL Tech founder Shiv Nadar suffered the biggest loss this year. Due to heavy selling of IT shares by foreign investors, HCL shares fell by 15%, causing a decline of about $ 4 billion in Nadar’s wealth.
The condition of former Wipro chairman and veteran IT businessman Azim Premji was also similar. The 12% fall in Wipro’s shares reduced his net worth by $3 billion. Talking about real estate sector, DLF’s K.P. Singh’s wealth declined by $3.38 billion as shares of his company fell by 17%. Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma and Ravi Jaipuria of Varun Beverages were also among those whose wealth has declined this year.
