India’s 100 Richest
Waiting
In the Wings
W
ith the stock market scaling new peaks, the pace at which India is churning out
billion-dollar fortunes has picked up. As a result the price of entry into the top 100
keeps rising. This year, 40 fortunes worth $ 1 billion or more did not make it to the
list. Here are ten of the newest and most interesting faces among them.W SRIDHAR VEMBU, 49
$1.45 Billion
ZOHO
Princeton engineer cofounded Zoho in 1996 with
his 2 brothers and friends to provide cloud-based
business software. The privately held company,
of which Vembu, with family, owns close to 90%,
competes with industry giant Salesforce.BAJRANG LAL TAPARIA, 83
$1.38 Billion
SUPREME INDUSTRIES
Taparia and family have close to a 50% stake in
listed Supreme Industries, one of India’s biggest
makers of plastic products, from molded furniture to
packaging. Shares have risen in line with rising sales,
which are now close to $700 million a year.PADAM CHAND GUPTA
$1.3 Billion
PC JEWELLER
Starting with one jewelry shop in Delhi in 2005,
Gupta and his brother Balram Garg built their firm
into an 80-store nationwide chain with annual
revenue of $1.3 billion. They own 60% of the firm,
which listed in 2012.MADHU KAPUR
$1.2 Billion
YES BANK
Kapur inherited shares in Yes Bank after her
husband, Ashok Kapur, the bank’s cofounder, died
in the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008. In order
to protect her interests, she took the bank, run by
her billionaire brother-in-law Rana Kapoor (No.
100), and its board to court to secure her right to
nominate board directors. BIJOY GHOSH/THE HINDU IMAGES