India’s wealthiest families witnessed a sharply polarised year in 2025, with a select group of billionaires posting strong double-digit gains while several others saw their fortunes stagnate or decline
amid volatile equity markets and global headwinds.
Market sentiment remained choppy through the year as foreign investors pulled money out of Indian equities, valuations stayed elevated, earnings growth softened and global uncertainties weighed on risk appetite. Against this backdrop, wealth creation was uneven across sectors and business groups.
Top wealth gainers in 2025
Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal, emerged as the biggest gainer. His net worth jumped 59 percent to USD 31.2 billion, driven by a more than 70 percent rally in ArcelorMittal shares. Strong earnings and expectations that new European trade policies would protect regional steelmakers from cheap imports lifted the stock.
Eicher Motors founder Vikram Lal ranked second, with his wealth rising 42 percent to USD 12.4 billion. Shares of Eicher Motors, which makes Royal Enfield motorcycles, surged over 51 percent in 2025, marking the company’s sixth straight year of gains. Growth was supported by a rebound in ultra-premium motorcycles, where Royal Enfield commands an 81 percent market share, stronger exports and steady gains in the commercial vehicle segment.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal was the third-largest wealth creator. His fortune rose 26 percent to USD 30 billion as Bharti Airtel shares advanced 34 percent, extending a seven-year winning streak. Analysts cited expectations of moderating capital expenditure, rising free cash flow in FY26–27 and continued tariff repair.
Kumar Mangalam Birla saw his wealth increase 21 percent to USD 22.9 billion, supported by sharp gains in group companies. Hindalco Industries climbed 41 percent, Grasim Industries rose 16 percent, Vodafone Idea surged 128 percent and Aditya Birla Capital jumped 104 percent.
Mukesh Ambani’s net worth rose 15 percent to USD 107 billion as Reliance Industries gained over 28 percent, backed by improved performance across energy, retail and telecom businesses. Uday Kotak and Nusli Wadia also recorded 15 percent increases, taking their wealth to USD 16.1 billion and USD 10.8 billion respectively, driven by gains in Kotak Mahindra Bank and Britannia Industries.
Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Aviation and Gautam Adani posted relatively modest gains of about 7.5 percent each, with their fortunes rising to USD 9.3 billion and USD 84.5 billion respectively.
Wealth declines and laggards
On the downside, Ravi Jaipuria of RJ Corp suffered the steepest fall. His wealth dropped 27 percent to USD 12.6 billion after Varun Beverages shares fell 26 percent, pressured by rising competition from Campa Cola and concerns over potential taxes on carbonated drinks.
Mangal Prabhat Lodha of Macrotech Developers saw his net worth decline 24 percent to USD 9.3 billion, while DLF’s KP Singh recorded a 19 percent drop to USD 14.4 billion, as weakness across the real estate sector weighed on large developers. Housing sales in key markets such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune have slowed over the past 18 months.
Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries saw a 13 percent decline in wealth to USD 25.7 billion. Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India and Shiv Nadar of HCL Technologies posted declines of 11 percent each, taking their fortunes to USD 14.8 billion and USD 38.5 billion respectively.
Azim Premji of Wipro recorded a 10 percent drop to USD 27.8 billion, while Pankaj Patel of Zydus Lifesciences and Shapoor Mistry and family saw their wealth fall 8 percent to USD 8.4 billion and USD 35.7 billion respectively.
Several other billionaires delivered muted gains during the year, including Savitri Jindal of OP Jindal Group, Polycab chairman Inder Jaisinghani, Avenue Supermarts founder Radhakishan Damani, Divi’s Laboratories promoter Murali Divi, and Torrent Group owners Samir and Sudhir Mehta.
