With $21-bn networth, Mukesh Ambani India's richest for 6th yr

October 29, 2013

Mukesh_AmbaniNew York, Oct 29: With a networth of USD 21 billion, Mukesh Ambani has retained his title as India's wealthiest for sixth year in a row, while the country's 100 richest persons saw their collective wealth soar by a modest 3 per cent in a year.

NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (USD 16 billion) also continues to hold the second position, while Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi has jumped to third place with about 50 per cent surge in his wealth to USD 13.9 billion, pushing IT czar Azim Premji to fourth place (USD 13.8 billion).

As per US-based business magazine Forbes' annual list of India's 100 richest, released today, their total wealth grew by a modest 3 per cent from a year ago to USD 259 billion.

"Growth in wealth was lacklustre due to India's stumbling economy, which has been hit by inflation and a falling rupee," Forbes said.

Amid the sluggishness, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and ArcelorMittal's Lakshmi Mittal saw no change in their respective networths, but pharmaceutical industry titan Shanghi managed to buck the trend with a surge of USD 4.7 billion in his wealth to USD 13.9 billion.

Premji's wealth also rose by USD 1.6 billion, but he could not retain his third slot.

Pallonji Mistry, patriarch of construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group which is the biggest shareholder in Tata Sons, has moved down one place to fifth rank with a networth of USD 12.5 billion. His younger son Cyrus Mistry last year succeeded Ratan Tata as new Tata group head.

NRI businessmen Hinduja brothers have moved up to sixth place (USD 9 billion), from their 9th position last year.

Shiv Nadar (USD 8.6 billion) have moved into top-ten at the 7th place, while Sunil Mittal has also returned to this league at 10th place (USD 6.6 billion). On the other hand, Essar group's Ruia brothers and Jindal group's Savitri Jindal have moved out from the group.

Adi Godrej has slipped two places to 8th rank (USD 8.3 billion), while Aditya Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has gained one position to 9th (USD 7.6 billion).

Anil Ambani has also retained his 11th rank, although his wealth rose to USD 6.2 billion, from USD 6 billion a year ago.

In the top-20, he is followed by Shashi and Ravi Ruia (USD 5.5 billion), Micky Jagtiani (USD 5 billion), Savitri Jindal (USD 4.9 billion), Uday Kotak (USD 4.1 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla (USD 4 billion), Anand Burman (USD 3.7 billion), Kushal Pal Singh (USD 3.4 billion), Desh Bandhu Gupta (USD 3.2 billion) and Bajaj Family (USD 3.1 billion).

There are a total of 65 billionaires on the list, four more than last year. Some of these have made their fortunes in the Middle East, including Bahrain resident Ravi Pillai (richest newcomer with USD 1.7 billion) of Saudi construction group, Nasser S Al-Hajri Corp, and retail mogul M A Yusuff Ali (USD 1.6 billion) of Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Group.

As many as 15 new members have entered the top-100 list even as more than half of last year's rich listers, including Savitri Jindal whose wealth declined by USD 3.3 billion, have seen a fall in their fortunes.

The minimum net worth to make to the list has increased to USD 635 million from USD 460 million last year.

Forbes said that the list has been compiled using shareholder and financial information obtained from families, individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and regulators.

The ranking lists family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as the Bajaj family, while the wealth figures were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of October 18, 2013.

Privately-held companies were valued based on the valuation of similar publicly-traded companies.

Others on the list include Vedanta group's Anil Agarwal at 21st position (USD 3 billion), Gautam Adani (22, USD 2.65 billion), Kalanithi Maran (23, USD 2.6 billion), Venugopal Dhoot (30, USD 1.8 billion), Ajay Piramal (41, USD 1.55 billion), Nandan Nilekani (50, USD 1.3 billion), Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (61, USD 1.15 billion) and Anu Aga (86, USD 730).

The youngest on the list is 38-year old Shivinder Mohan Singh, who along with his 40-year-old brother Malvinder Mohan Singh have been ranked at 26th place (USD 2.3 billion).

Besides, 40-year old Ranjan Pai of Manipal group is at 51st place (USD 1.25 billion).

Others aged below 50 include Glenn Saldanha ranked 57 with net worth of USD 1.19 billion, Nirav Modi (64, USD 1.01 billion) and Vikas Oberoi (79, USD 780 billion) among others.

Women on the list include Savitri Jindal, Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Shobhana Bhartia.

Those aged above 80 years of age include Brij Mohan Lal Munjal (90 years), Samprada Singh (87 yrs), Pallonji Mistry (84 yrs), Devendra Jain (84 yrs) and Kushal Pal Singh (82 yrs).

On Mukesh Ambani, Forbes said he plans to invest USD 25 billion in his businesses over the next 3 years.

Regarding L N Mittal, the magazine said "no turnaround yet for troubled steel baron Lakshmi Mittal whose ArcelorMittal is facing weak demand amid supply glut."

Mittal has put one of three houses he owns on London's billionaires' row up for sale, the magazine said.

Meanwhile, his son-in-law Amit Bhatia's family has partnered Air Asia's Tony Fernandes and the Tata group, for a new budget airline.

The list forms part of Forbes India edition which would hit the stands on November 7.

Shanghvi, who moved into the top five last year, is the third richest for the first time. Despite the rise, Sun reported a USD 210 million loss in the last quarter, after making a provision for settling a patent dispute over Pfizer's acid-reflux drug Protonix.

"Wipro chairman Azim Premji, whose fortune is up USD 1.6 billion in past year, got boost after spinning off its (the company's) consumer products business in March," Forbes said.

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News Network
July 14,2020

Washington, Jul 14: The United States has the biggest Covid-19 testing programme in the world, better than big countries like Russia, China, India and Brazil, President Donald Trump said on Monday, asserting that America has "just about the lowest mortality rate" due to the disease in the world.

"We have one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere," Trump said at a White House roundtable. More than 34 lakh Americans have tested positive for Covid-19 so far and over 1,37,000 have died due to the disease, both of which are the largest numbers among all the countries.

The huge number of positive cases, the president said, is due to the massive testing efforts undertaken by his administration, more extensive than any other country.

"We test more than anybody by far. And when you test, you create cases. So we have created cases. I can tell you that some countries, they test when somebody walks into a hospital sick or walks into maybe a doctor's office, but usually a hospital. That is the testing they do, so they do not have cases, whereas we have all these cases. So, it is a double-edged sword," he said.

At the same time, the United States has the lowest mortality rate or just about the lowest mortality rate due to the disease in the world, Trump added. "We are doing a great job. We are doing very well with vaccines and we are doing very, very well with therapeutics. I think we are going to have some very good information coming out soon," he said in response to a question.

"But we have the best and certainly, by far, the biggest testing programme anywhere in the world. If you tested China or Russia or any of the larger countries, if you just tested India, as an example, the way we test, you would see numbers that would be very surprising. Brazil too. You know, Brazil is going through a big problem, but they do not do testing like we do," Trump said.

"So we do the testing and by doing the testing, we have tremendous numbers of cases. As an example, we have done 45 million tests. If we did half that number, you would have half the cases probably -- around that number. If we did another half of that, you would have half the numbers. Everyone would be saying, 'Oh, we are doing so well on cases'," he added.

Responding to a question, Trump said what China did to the world should not be forgotten.

"I think what China has done to the world with what took place -- the China plague -- you can call it the China virus, you can call it whatever you want to call it. It has about 20 different names. What they did to the world should not be forgotten," he said.

The trade deal with China that was signed early this year remains intact, the president said. "It is intact, they (China) are buying. Whether they buy or not, that is up to them. They are buying," he said.

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News Network
June 19,2020

London, Jun 19: Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner who once took a bullet for campaigning for girls' education in Pakistan, was over the moon on Friday after completing her degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Britain's prestigious Oxford University.

Malala, 22, who attended Oxford's Lady Margaret Hall college, took to Twitter to share two pictures that show her celebrating the milestone with her family.

"Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford," she said in the tweet, accompanied by two pictures - one showing her sitting with her family in front of a cake that says: 'Happy Graduation Malala', and the other in which she is covered with cake smiling for the camera.

In the tweet, the famed human rights activist also revealed her plans for the immediate future - Netflix, reading and sleeping.

"I don't know what's ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep," she wrote.

Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban militants in December 2012 for campaigning for female education in the Swat Valley in northeastern Pakistan.

Severely wounded, she was airlifted from one military hospital in Pakistan to another and later flown to the UK for treatment.

After the attack, the Taliban released a statement saying that they would target Malala again if she survived.

At the age of 17, Malala became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy in 2014 when she shared the coveted honour with India's social activist Kailash Satyarthi.

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, she moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.

The Taliban, who are against girls' education, have destroyed many schools in Pakistan.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Jan 23: Hundreds of Central Americans trying to reach the United States were stuck at the Mexico-Guatemala border on Wednesday after the Mexican government beefed up security to meet US demands to contain migrant flows.

Under sustained pressure from President Donald Trump, Mexico's government has adopted tougher measures to reduce the number of people heading towards the U.S. border.

Migrants in Tecun Uman, on the Guatemalan side of the border, were taken by surprise.

"We thought we'd be allowed through just like with the October caravan when they reached Tijuana," said Honduran migrant Ritzy Anabel, who did not give her surname.

"People from Mexico and Guatemala treated them well. But now it's changed because Mexicans don't want (us) to enter."

Many Central Americans migrants heading north are fleeing economic hardship and violence at home. A large caravan of migrants crossed into Mexico and went north in October 2018. Migrants crossing into Mexico earlier this week faced tear gas from security forces, who delivered a firmer response than in previous mass movements at the border.

Even so, about 1,000 migrants, most of them from Honduras, managed to reach Mexican soil on Tuesday. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said several hundred of the new arrivals were immediately deported on planes and buses.

On Wednesday, Mexican authorities said that 460 Honduran migrants were deported throughout the day. Other migrants from the group, including families traveling with children, were pondering their next moves.

Honduran Carlos Amador said that while some of his compatriots were returning home, others were hoping for positive news.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to punish Mexico and Central American countries if they fail to clamp down on the migrant flows. That has resulted in a series of agreements aimed at delivering on Trump's campaign promises to curb immigration.

Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf called the measures put in place by the Mexican National Guard "effective", adding that dozens of his personnel was on the ground in Central America assisting local immigration and security officials. Trump tweeted: "Sorry, if you come you will be immediately sent back!"

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