According to Forbes’ annual ranking of billionaires, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates continued his reign as the richest person in the world. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has retained his position as India’s richest person, leading a pack of 84 Indian billionaires in 2016. Forbes’ 2016 list of the World’s Billionaires includes 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago. Their aggregate net worth is $6.5 billion, $570 million less than last year.
Mr Gates remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $75 billion, despite being $4.2 billion poorer compared to a year ago. He has been No. 1 for three years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.
Occupying the second spot on the list was Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, founder of closing retail giant Zara and the richest man in Europe. On the third spot was billionaire philanthropist and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, followed by Mexican billionair
e Carlos Slim Helu (4th) and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (5th).
Mr Ambani led a pack of 84 billionaires from India, with pharmaceuticals magnate Dilip Shanghvi (44th; $16.7 billion or Rs 1.13 lakh crore), Wipro chairman Azim Premji (55th; $15 billion or Rs 1 lakh crore) and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar (88th; $11.1 billion or Rs 75,325 crore) coming in among the top 100 billionaires.
