Notwithstanding the rupee depreciation, the pharmaceutical industry has emerged as the second most powerful sector to produce billionaires of the country, by catapulting 12 individuals into the top 100 list of richest Indians.

According to the inaugural Hurun India Rich List from the globally-famous China-based Hurun Report Inc, Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharmaceuticals, 8.5 bn dollars) stands third in the list of the 100 wealthiest people, after Mukesh Ambani (19.3 billion dollars) and London-based steel baron L N Mittal (16.9 billion dollars).

Throwing many cheers for the pharma industry which is on a growth path globally, the list places Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon as the richest self-made woman with a personal booty of Rs. 600 million dollars. Generic drugs tycoon Habil Khorakiwala of Wockhardt saw a more than trebling of his income year on year, the best performer on the Hurun List.

The youngest person on the list is Shivinder Mohan Singh at 37 years old, who is heading the Fortis Healthcare Group. His 39-year-old brother Malvinder Mohan Singh, the former chief of Ranbaxy, also finds a place with him in the list, though by virtue of their business interests in the financial services now.

While the manufacturing sector produced 17 wealthiest Indians, pharmaceutical sector came second with 12, followed by real estate segment that contributed 10 nominees. These 12 are apart from Malvinder, Shivinder and Prathap Reddy of Appollo Hospitals who was categorized in the services sector.

Mumbai-based Shanghvi of Sun Pharma has a wealth to the tune of 8500 million dollars to top among the pharmaceutical industrialists. While Kiran Mazumdar-Shah is positioned at 76, Pankaj Patel of Cadila Pharmaceuticals stands at 20th rank with a fortune of 2800 million dollars.

Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin Pharmaceutials (US$ 2500 m), Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Pharma ($2300 m), Yusuf Hamied of Cipla ($2300 m), Habil Khorakiwala of Wockhardt ($1900 m), Sudhir and Samir Mehta of Torrent Pharma ($1700 m), Ajay Piramal of Piramal Healthcare ($1600 m), Murali Divi of Divi’s Lab ($1500 m), Dr K Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy’s Lab ($1400 m) and Glenn Saldahna of Glenmark Pharma ($1100 m) are the other entries in the 100 richest Indians’ list.

For determining India’s 100 wealthiest persons, the report says the minimum cut off mark for finding a place in the coveted list was US$ 330 million. Hurun Report Inc, which prepared the list of India’s richest people, is a leading research house and luxury publishing group based in Shanghai, China, and with offices across China and in London. It is widely considered the authoritative voice on the richest in China and ranks the 1000 richest individuals in that country.

Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher said, “The stories of the people on the Hurun India Rich List tell the story of business in modern India.”

Of the Top 100 of the Hurun India Rich List, 52 saw their wealth shrink, and the shrinkage was by over 25 per cent for 21 of them. “This was mainly due to the 12 per cent depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, which negated the appreciation in India’s stock markets,” said Anas Rahman Junaid of GyanMagnus Associates, Hurun Report’s chief Indian research partner.