It's Anil vs Mukesh for richest Indian

Mumbai: The Indian stock market appears in love with the Ambani brothers - Mukesh and Anil – evident from their personal wealth and that of their respective groups soaring in terms of market cap, but the younger scion is still lagging.

Based on their net worth derived from stockholdings in their respective group companies, Mukesh and Anil Ambani have become the country's two richest individuals, while pushing IT czar Azim Premji to the third slot.

While Mukesh Ambani has further cemented his leadership position with a sharp jump in the market value of his group's flagship company Reliance Industries (RIL), a scheme of reorganisation in the telecom venture has unlocked significant additional value for Anil Ambani Group.

Meanwhile, Anil Ambani's net worth, based on stockholding in four group companies – Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance Energy (REL) – and a small stake in RIL has increased to just over Rs 65,000 crore.

RIL's market value soared past Rs 1,76,000 crore on Wednesday, after the company's share price hit a life-time high of Rs 1,268 per share, while taking Mukesh Ambani's net worth to over Rs 74,000 crore based on his holding in three group firms - RIL, RPL and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Ltd (RIIL).

The sharp increase in the younger Ambani's net worth follows a surge in Reliance Communications' market value to nearly Rs 80,000 crore, from Rs 42,000 crore a month ago.

Wipro's Azim Premji, who has been once hailed as the country's richest person, has slipped to third position with a net worth of about Rs 62,400 crore based on his holding in the country's third biggest software firm.

Meanwhile, Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani Group is maintaining a big lead over the Anil Ambani group in terms of the combined market cap of the two groups.

The cumulative market cap of four Mukesh Ambani group companies – RIL, RPL, IPCL and RIIL stands at about Rs 2,14,000 crore, while that of five ADAG companies-Reliance Comm, Reliance Capital, REL, RNRL and Adlabs Films is estimated at around Rs 1,07,000 crore.

Wipro commanded a market cap of about Rs 77,000 crore at the end of Wednesday's trading session.