Hurun Global Rich List 2021: Mukesh Ambani reaches no 8, Elon Musk tops list

The Hurun Global Rich List 2021 published Tuesday said Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani is now the 8th wealthiest man in the world.

The Mumbai-based business tycoon's wealth went up 24% to US$83bn, on the back of a surge in the value of energy and telecom giant Reliance, the report said.

"India's largest exporter, Reliance accounts for 8% of the country’s exports and 5% of India's total revenues from customs and excise duty," it said.

Moreover, Tesla CEO Elon Musk topped the list after adding a massive $151 billion during the year to take his net worth to $197 billion. Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos ranked second with $189 billion in net worth.

Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH Moët Henness, the world's largest luxury-goods company, with a net worth of $114 billion, Microsoft founder Bill Gates with $110 billion, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg with $101 billion were among the top five billionaires.

Another revelation that the report made was that the world added 421 in 2020 — an average of eight billionaires a week.

“Billionaires have added in the past year the equivalent of the GDP of Germany to take their wealth to the equivalent of China. They added US$3.5tn to take their total wealth to US$14.7tn, a huge concentration of economic power," it said.