During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ambani achieved a fund-raising milestone, raising $35 billion.

With an estimated worth of $84.5 billion, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani topped Forbes' list of India's 10 wealthiest billionaires, led by Adani Group CEO Gautam Adani.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Ambani was able to raise $35 billion through a series of transactions, enabling him to fulfill his goal of reducing his hallmark of Reliance Industries' net debt to zero by 2021.

“He also completed a $7.3 billion rights issue of Reliance shares and sold a third of telecom unit Jio to marquee investors such as Facebook and Google, as well as offloading 10% of Reliance Retail to private equity firms such as KKR and General Atlantic,” Forbes confirmed.

“Adani, the second richest Indian, has a net worth of $50.5 billion after diversifying the group's business and acquiring a major stake in India's airport management and operations business.”

Last September, Adani purchased a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport, the country's second busiest airport. He sold a 20% stake in Adani Green Energy, a publicly-traded renewable energy company, to Total, a French energy conglomerate, for $2.5 billion.

According to Forbes' list of India's 10 Richest Billionaires 2021, HCL founder Shiv Nadar to be the third richest Indian, with a net worth of $23.5 billion.

Last July, Nadar stepped down as CEO of HCL Technologies, a $9.9 billion (revenues) firm, and handed the reins to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra.

The fourth and fifth positions on the list went to Avenue Supermarts founder Radhakishan Damani ($16.5 billion) and Kotak Mahindra Bank MD Uday Kotak ($15.9 billion).