Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi slips ahead of Mukesh Ambani to become India's richest man

The stock market surge is rearranging the order of India’s wealthy.

On Wednesday, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, toppled Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries to be the richest Indian, the Bloomberg Billionarires Index has showed.

As per the index, Shanghvi’s net worth now stands at $21.6 billion, marginally higher than Ambani’s $21.5 billion. The change in the order comes two days after the Forbes rich list mentioned Mukesh Ambani as the richest Indian for the eighth year in a row with a net worth of $21 billion.

The Bloomberg index records changes in the net worth of the rich on a daily basis and what brought about the change yesterday was the stock market movement in India after the RBI’s rate cut.

Shares of Shanghvi’s companies, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC), rose a whopping 6 percent and 4 percent on Wednesday, while shares of Reliance Industries fell 1.63 percent.

The Sensex had crossed the 30,000 mark after the RBI cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent in the morning. But the index closed down 213 points as some of the investors started profit booking.

As per the index, Shanghvi’s net worth rose $1.2 billion yesterday while Ambani’s fell by $484.5 million.

According to The Economic Times , it is the US FDA approval accorded to SPARC’s product that pushed up the shares of the group companies. What boosted sentiment was the product is to be produced from Sun’s Halol plant, which had received an import warning last year. The approval would mean all is well at the plant.

On Tuesday, Sun Pharma said it will buy out GlaxoSmithKline’s opiates business in Australia for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its pain management portfolio. The deal will be closed by August.

Shanghvi is the 33rd richest globally and Ambani, the 32nd, according to the Forbes list. Bill Gates tops the list with a net worth of $85.1 billion.

“It comes as no surprise to see an enterprising Gujarati like Shanghvi top the charts. A self-made man, with high business acumen, vision, and an eye to spot a hidden gem or opportunity instantly,” Amar Ambani, head of research at India Infoline Finance Ltd, has been quoted as saying in a report in the Mint newspaper​.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries owns Network18, which publishes Firstpost