From Ambani to Mittal: Billionaires who gained and lost wealth in 2025
In 2025, India's wealthiest families experienced significant shifts. Lakshmi Mittal, Vikram Lal, and Mukesh Ambani saw substantial wealth growth due to strong sector performances. Conversely, Ravi Jaipuria, real estate moguls, and some pharma/IT billionaires faced losses amid market volatility, competition, and sector-specific pressures, highlighting a dynamic year for Indian wealth.
New Delhi: The year 2025 was not the same for the richest families of India. Amid the fluctuations in the stock market, the selling of foreign investors, high valuations and global uncertainties, the wealth of some billionaires increased rapidly, and some big names recorded some losses.
Lakshmi Mittal at the forefront
Steel legend Lakshmi Mittal emerged as the biggest winner of 2025. His net worth jumped drastically and his wealth reached new highs with double-digit growth throughout the year. The rise in ArcelorMittal shares, good earnings and positive signals related to trade policy in Europe have given them a big advantage.
Vikram Lal and Sunil Mittal
Founder of Eicher Motors Vikram Lal was also among the top gainers. Royal Enfield's strong sales, new models and improvements in exports have raised the company's shares. At the same time, Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal's wealth also increased significantly. Expectations of better cash flow, limited capex and tariff reform in the telecom sector have supported Airtel's shares.
Ambani, Birla and Kotak
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani's net worth also increased. Good performance in energy, retail and telecom business has strengthened Reliance's shares. Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group benefited from the good performance of group companies. Legends like Uday Kotak and Nusli Wadia also saw an increase in their wealth.
Billionaires who suffered losses
While some were lucky, many billionaires suffered losses. Ravi Jaipuria of RJ Corp witnessed the biggest decline in wealth. Increasing competition in the beverage sector and tax concerns put pressure on the shares of their companies. The slowness of the real estate sector also affected the wealth of Mangal Prabhat Lodha and DLF's KP Singh. Due to the slowing down of sales in big cities, the shares of these companies remained weak.
Pharma and IT are also under pressure
Some big names in the pharma and IT sector were also under pressure this year. Due to weak stock performance, the wealth of industrialists like Dilip Sanghavi, Cyrus Poonawalla, Shiv Nadar and Azim Premji declined.