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Singapore - Four Indians with a combined net worth of $160bn are among the world's top ten richest people, Forbes magazine said on Thursday in releasing its 2008 world's billionaires list.
Asia's representation doubled from the previous year when Lakshmi Mittal of India and Li Ka-shing from Hong Kong were the only two from the region, the magazine said.
India registered 53 billionaires, while China and Hong Kong have 42 and 26 billionaires, compared with Japan's 24.
Mittal, the London-based owner of Arcelor Mittal, the world's
largest steel manufacturer, was ranked fourth on the list with an estimated net worth of $45bn.
Joining Mittal were estranged brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, worth $43bn and $42bn respectively, in fifth and sixth place.
The Ambani brothers were this year's two largest gainers, with a
combined increase in wealth of $46.7bn over last year.
Kushal Pal Sing, the richest real estate baron, moved up 54 places to eighth, with his net worth tripling to $30bn.
Li Ka-shing, ninth last year, dropped out of the top ten to
eleventh, with his net worth rising by $3.5bn to $26.5bn this year.
Famed US investor Warren Buffett, worth $62bn, soared past Bill Gates's $58bn, "seizing the top spot held by Gates for 13 years," Forbes said in its release.
The Microsoft co-founder slipped two places to third, after Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico at $60bn.
Asian billionaires increased by a third to 211, and their total net worth climbed to 804bn, up from 552bn.
The billionaires have an average age of 57. Sixty-eight percent of them were self-made, Forbes said.
- Sapa