Mukesh Ambani world's richest

The market, which has been on steroids through most of October, also saw Mukesh Ambani, the head of Reliance Industries Ltd, become the richest man in the world, edging out software giant Bill Gates of Microsoft and Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim and Warren Buffet. PTI reported that Mukesh Ambani's net worth rose to $63.2 billion (Rs 2,49,108 crores) on the back of Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd. In comparison, the net worth of both Bill Gates and Carlos Slim is estimated to be slightly lower, at around $62.29 billion, with Slim leading among the two by a narrow margin.

Investor czar Warren Buffett was pushed to fourth position, with a net worth of about $56 billion.

Mr Ambani's wealth of about Rs 2,49,000 crores includes about Rs 2,10,000 crores from RIL (50.98 per cent stake), Rs 37,500 crores from RPL (37.5 per cent) and Rs 2,100 crores from RIIL (46.23 per cent).

The Ambani family, whose wealth has always ridden on the fortunes of the stockmarket from the time of founder Dhirubhai Ambani, on Monday became the world's first family to own a fortune of over $100 billion in stockmarket wealth, based on the combined worth of the two brothers Mukesh and Anil. Their combined wealth of $101.7 billion, according to PTI, is well ahead of the Waltons, considered to be the world's richest family. The Walton family is the promoter of WalMart and holds a net worth of about $71 billion, based on its 39 per cent stake in the giant American retailer.

While Mukesh's net worth surged to a staggering $63.2 billion, that of his younger brother Anil rose to $38.5 billion on the back of a sharp surge in the share prices of his group companies. The Ambani brothers had separated and split the flagship Reliance Industries Ltd two years ago. With the Sensex touching 20,000, India became the 20th nation among those countries whose indices are above the 20,000 mark. There are about 32 indices across 19 countries that have already crossed this 20,000 mark. Hong Kong's Hang Seng trades above 20,000, while markets like China and Japan are yet to see any of their indices touching 20K levels. Even in the West, markets in the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany and France have not seen their indices reaching this mark. The countries whose stockmarket indices have crossed the 20K level include Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Italy, Poland, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Hong Kong.