The wealth of India's business tycoons has overtaken those in China, according to Bloomberg data.
India business owners such as Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have swept past China billionaires such as Alibaba's Jack Ma in the world wealth rankings.
According to Bloomberg, Ambani's wealth rose to more than $84 billion this year. Right behind the Reliance Industries chairperson is India infrastructure business owner Adani, whose net worth is now $78 billion.
The increase in their wealth this year made the two men Asia's richest business owners, Bloomberg data showed. Ambani is the 12th richest person in the world behind former Microsoft chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer.
Comparatively, the wealth of some of the richest people in China has declined or stagnated. Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring, leapt others to become the richest person in China with a net worth of $71 billion.
Tencent founder Pony Ma is fourth in Asia with a net worth of $61 billion while Alibaba founder Jack Ma is in fifth place with a net worth of $50 billion.
The rise in the wealth of India's business owners can be attributed to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic - which destroyed smaller competitors. The fortunes of both Ambani and Adani got a boost from recent rallies in their companies' stock prices as market participants were left with few options for betting on the nation's economic rebound.
Analysts at Marcellus Investment Managers said the India tycoons' ascent showed how profits have been funneled to a handful of dominant industrialists only - which are locally called "promoters."
"Promoters across sectors whose ambit was hitherto regional are able to spread their wings nationally. A mix of private equity, venture capital and the stock market is financing that, and you're getting immense polarization of wealth," analysts said.
In China, the biggest names in the technology industry saw their fortunes decline as their companies struggled with state crackdowns. Jack Ma has all but disappeared after his company's planned $37 billion initial public offering was ended by China regulators.
