Hurun Rich List 2022: India's richest promoters saw their wealth multiply faster than their retail shareholders

On September 21, Hurun India and IIFL Wealth released the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List for 2022. The list includes people who live in India or were born and raised there. The wealth calculations are a snapshot as of 30th August 2022. According to the report, 1,103 individuals, across 122 cities, have ₹1,000 crore in the Hurun India and IIFL Wealth rich list 2022. 

Cumulative wealth has increased by 9.4%, while average wealth has decreased by 1%. The report shows 602 individuals saw their wealth increase or stay the same, of which 149 were new faces, whilst 415 saw their wealth drop, and there were 50 dropouts.

India has 221 billionaires. Chemicals and Financial Services added the greatest number of new entrants to the list. Pharma is still at number one and has contributed 126 entrants to the list. The youngest on the list is aged 19, four years younger than the youngest last year, the report said.

The unprecedented rise in Adani Group stocks made its founder, Gautam Adani, one of the richest man in India with a wealth of Rs. 10,94,400 crore. Adani's wealth more than doubled in the last year, adding ₹5,88,500 crore. For the first time in ten years, Mukesh Ambani has lost the top ranking despite his wealth increasing by 11% in an eventful year that saw many headwinds, including the Russia-Ukraine war.

Cyrus S Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India has moved three ranks after his wealth increased by 25%, or ₹41,700 crore, in the last year. His privately held company is the world’s biggest vaccine maker and has recently developed the country’s first cervical cancer shot that will hit the market soon.

Three families, Shiv Nadar & family, SP Hinduja & family, and LN Mittal & family, have reported a decline in wealth but still find a place in the top ten.

Meanwhile, Dilip Shanghvi and Uday Kotak re-entered the Indian Top 10 this year, replacing Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group and Jay Chaudhary of Zscaler.

Most billionaires saw an increase in wealth over the last five years, which was primarily caused by soaring stock prices and the financial markets. However, the wealth of top company promoters increased more quickly than the appreciation of their stocks.

For instance, in the last five years, the share price of HCL expanded from ₹543.90 to ₹938.95, a nearly 1.72-fold increase, while Shiv Nadar's and his family's wealth increased fivefold.

Similarly, shares of Avenue supermarts in the last five years jumped from ₹1561.21 to ₹4,565.85, a growth of nearly 2.9 times, and in the same time frame, the wealth of Radhakishan Damani & Family surged to 3.8 times.

The Dividend 

According to the Business Standard report, India's top promoters made more money from equity dividends and share buybacks in FY22 in line with corporate earnings.

The report showed that in FY22, the top 50 promoters' average income from dividends and share buybacks in FY22 was nearly 47,300 times higher than India's average per capita income of ₹1.5 lakh in the last fiscal. The analysis is based on the sample of 338 companies that declared the final dividends for FY22.

The promoters’ earnings from dividends and share buybacks are over and above their regular income, such as salary, commissions, board sitting fees, bonuses, and other perquisites.

In FY22, the Anil Agarwal family, which owns the Vedanta group, earned a gross dividend income of ₹11,677 crore.

Wipro, Infosys, and HCL Technologies executives earned the most from their companies through equity dividends and share buybacks. Shiv Nadar family of HCL Technologies earned ₹7,254 crore in FY22 by way of equity dividends.

Mukesh Ambani earned around ₹2,657 crore by way of dividends from their flagship Reliance Industries. Azim Premji got ₹2,401 crore as equity dividends from his IT major in FY22.

Other individual promoters or promoter families with big dividend income from their listed companies include Rahul Bajaj family ( ₹1,381 crore), Asian Paints promoters ( ₹967 crore), Harsh Mariwala of Marico ( ₹710 crore), Munjals of Hero Group ( ₹660 crore) and Burmans of Dabur ( ₹619 crore), according to the report.