Fortunes of top 3 rich Indian families equal Singapore’s GDP: report

The top three family businesses in India – Ambani, Bajaj and Birla – are valued at a combined $460 billion, equaling the gross domestic product (GDP) of Singapore, according to a Barclays-Hurun report.

The Ambani family topped the inaugural edition of the 2024 Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses list with a value of $309 billion (about ₹25.75 trillion), or about one-tenth of India’s GDP, the report said.

The Ambanis were followed by the Bajaj family with a total value of ₹7.13 trillion (about $85.51 billion), and the Birla family business with a valuation of ₹5.39 trillion (about $64.67 billion).

The Adanis, meanwhile, topped the separate first-generation category of entrepreneur families with businesses worth $186 billion, or ₹15.44 trillion, followed by the Poonawalla family, which runs The Serum Institute of India, at $28.44 billion (about ₹2.37 trillion).

The families in the Barclays-Hurun list control businesses worth $1.3 trillion, surpassing the combined GDPs of Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, the report said.

The report set a cut-off of ₹2,700 crore (about $0.32 billion) for inclusion in the list, which counted 124 families worth $1 billion and more.

Fifteen of these families are led by women, while a majority of the family businesses (65) in the list are based out of Mumbai, followed by 17 in Kolkata and 15 in New Delhi.

The top 10 businesses on the list account for more than half of the total wealth on the list, the report noted.

“The fact that 69% of the most valuable family businesses consist of second-generation family businesses, with the remainder being third generation or older, speaks volumes about the resilience and adaptability of India family businesses,” said Nitin Singh, head of private bank Asia-Pacific at Barclays.

“Everyday essentials we rely on often come from the business run by 2024 Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses. Whether it’s “bhujia” served at weddings from Haldiram’s, the medicines we take from Cipla, or the biscuits from Britannia we enjoy with chai, these family enterprises are integral to our lives,” said Hurun India founder and chief researcher Anas Rahman Junaid.

The rankings were compiled based on company valuations as on 20 March 2024.