Indian billionaires held on to 99% of their wealth while rest of the world lost over $1 trillion

• Indian billionaires retained 99% of their wealth in 2022 when billionaires around the world have seen a decline of up to 83% in their wealth.
• Gautam Adani added the most to his wealth in the world, while Mukesh Ambani was a close third.
• Overall, billionaires around the world lost over a trillion dollars in wealth in 2022 so far.
• Switzerland was the only country in the list with a net gain of $12 billion.

The Indian economy has been going through the same pains as the rest of the world — high inflation, rising interest rates and a doubtful recovery. Yet, the country’s billionaires do not seem to have been affected by it. In fact, they got away with a minimum loss of wealth in 2022 – while the rest of the world lost over a trillion dollars.

According to numbers crunched by Business Insider and data from Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Indian billionaires held on to 99% of their wealth in 2022 so far — and lost a mere $5 billion. In fact, they come next only to Switzerland in terms of retaining their wealth.

India is home to 166 billionaires while only 18 of them are in the top 500 billionaires list. Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani – rank the highest and are in the august company of the world’s richest men.

US and Chinese billionaires lost $6 billion out of every $10 billion

The US and China contributed to 60% of wealth erosion in these months, losing $426 billion and $185 billion respectively.

Russian billionaires, hit by sanctions due to the Russia-Ukraine war, also lost a significant amount of wealth, totaling to nearly $50 billion.

Out of countries with at least 10 billionaires, India was second only to Switzerland, whose billionaires actually added to their wealth. According to data, while Indian billionaires retained $410 billion out of $415 billion at the start of 2022, Swiss billionaires added $12 billion to their kitty.


India would have been the top performer if not for Gautam Adani, whose wealth reduced from nearly $129 billion to a little over $100 billion.

Gautam Adani added the most amount of wealth in the world

Out of the top 500 billionaires of the world, Gautam Adani added the most amount of wealth, followed by Switzerland’s Guillaume Pousaz. Mukesh Ambani was a close third.

Canadian billionaire Changpeng Zhao lost a whopping $80 billion in 2022, which is more than the total billionaire wealth of most other countries. Zhao is the co-founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.


The meltdown in US stocks caused Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to lose $138 billion between the three of them.

India behind only US and China in terms of billionaire wealth

In terms of total wealth of billionaires, India rose the ranks to come in at the third place, leaving France behind by a comfortable margin. The only two countries ahead of India are the US and China, who have maintained their first and second positions despite a massive decline in wealth.

The US’ lead is so massive that its billionaires account for $43 billion out of every $100 billion wealth. In contrast, Chinese and Indian billionaires account for only $12 billion and $6 billion, respectively.

India has the fifth most number of billionaires in the world

Despite having the third highest billionaire wealth in the world, India has only the fifth most number of billionaires in the world.

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