Agency report

New Delhi, Mar 14: Consolidation of his telecom businesses into one single entity, Reliance Communication Venture Limited, may have made Anil Ambani the second wealthiest man in the country after Azim Premji of Wipro.

With as much as $12 billion in personal wealth, Anil Ambani moved up to the second rank, surpassing elder brother Mukesh, whose wealth stood at nearly Rs 37,825 crore ($8.5 billion) with a market capitalisation of Rs 1,02,053 crore (Rs 1020.53 billion), as per the share prices of their stake in the companies promoted by them.

The consolidation of telecom businesses has resulted in a dramatic jump in the networth of Anil Ambani, with 63 per cent stake in RCoVL alone amounting to around Rs 41,227 crore (Rs 412.27 billion).

As per the Forbes list of richest persons, released last week, steel tycoon and L N Mittal was the richest Indian with a networth of about $20 billion followed by Wipro chief Azim Premji, with over $11 billion. Mukesh Ambani's wealth stood at about $7 billion.

Based on the market capitalisation of four listed group companies -- RCoVL, Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Natural Resources Limited -- at Rs 96,70 crore (Rs 96.7 billion) at today's prices, Anil Ambani's personal wealth has swollen to a whopping Rs 53,047 crore (Rs 530.47 billion).

Wipro's market capitalisation stood at Rs 75,668 crore (RS 756.68 billion) but due to higher personal stake, Premji's networth stood at around $13.3 billion.