While reading todays newspaper I found this article;

NEW DELHI: Whether you call it Delhi, New Delhi, NCR, Indraprastha, or plain ol’ Dilli, there is one constant in this city of 13 million people. Money doesn’t whisper -- it roars. From the crowded by lanes of Chandni Chowk to the sprawling bungalows of South Delhi to the fast-growing expanses of its suburbs, Delhi seems light years away from the gentle -- and even dull -- avatar of just a decade-and-a-half ago

What was a sleepy capital is today India’s most important market and, despite its size, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country today. Aided by waves of migration and the economic success of the fertile agricultural belt around it, Delhi has very high affluence levels today.



Need numbers? The NCR accounts for 30 per cent of India’s automobile market (it also accounts for the highest defaulters for car finance, but that’s another story). At 1.5 million users, Delhi is also the largest and fastest-growing market for cellular phones. The city attracted a staggering 53 per cent of the foreign direct investment inflows in 2001. It’s also marching for India’s new economy by hosting 41 per cent of the units engaged in the call center and back office business.



For a megapolis that likes to flaunt success, there’s no doubt that Delhi’s denizens are individualistic, entrepreneurial, and rich. To pay tribute to the spirit of Delhi, we sought to identify its corporate flag bearers – the 25 richest individuals who have generated wealth for themselves, shareholders, employees, and for the city.



The mandate: the list should be truly representative of the top moneybags in the city. In our ranking, you will find listed as well as unlisted entities (for a detailed look at the methodology, see How We Did It). For the record, seven individuals in our rich list have unlisted companies to their name.



Among them is Kushal Pal Singh, lord and master of the 3,000-acre DLF City in Gurgaon, who is the richest man in Delhi. The suave Singh holds 95 per cent of DLF Universal and 40 subsidiary companies. Though DLF Universal has a turnover of just Rs 400 crore, real estate consultants put his total net worth at over Rs 10,000 crore.





What we do know is that DLF earns a rental income of Rs 1 crore a day. Taking an established norm of 15 times rental as the value of commercial space (its 14 lakh sq ft of such property is mostly leased out) leads us to a worth of Rs 4,500 crore. Add a conservative value of Rs 3 crore per acre for DLF’s 600 acres of undeveloped land and KP Singh’s net worth come to Rs 6,300 crore. Incidentally, Singh also owns Savitri cinema in Delhi’s Greater Kailash (which is being converted into commercial land) and Naz Cinema in Jhandewalan.



However, another real estate baron – Sushil Ansal – does not make it to the list. A split in the family has only compounded legal problems after the tragedy at Uphaar cinema in 1997. Ansal Properties and Industries is also weighed down by high cost debt of around Rs 190 crore. Sushil Ansal’s stake in API is valued at only Rs 9 crore.



The 30-something Singh brothers of Ranbaxy are the richest persons in Delhi if ranked according to market capitalisation of their holdings in the pharmaceutical giant. The promoters also have substantial stakes in Fortis Healthcare and Speciality Ranbaxy.




And the third-richest man in Delhi is the gentle Shiv Nadar. The IT mogul from Delhi is worth Rs 3,805 crore, despite his flagship HCL Technologies has lost around 90 per cent of its market value from a peak of Rs 43,500 crore in February 2000.



A look down the list reveals well-known faces of corporate India, from the Jindals to the Nandas, from the Modis to the Thapars, from Jaiprakash Gaur to OP Lohia.



However, the ravages of liberalisation have taken their toll on a few that would have been on the list a decade ago: SRF’s Arun Bharat Ram; DCM’s Vivek and Vinay Bharat Ram; Orissa Cement’s Dalmias; Usha Group’s Vinay Rai; and Eicher’s Vikram Lal.

Among those individuals who have not yet approached the markets to raise funds is Ashwini Puri of Mohan Exports, which has a turnover of Rs 500 crore. The exporter-cum-banker also has a controlling stake in Lord Krishna Bank (2001-02 profits: Rs 30 crore).



Media baron Aroon Purie inclusion in the list is no surprise. A chartered accountant, Purie’s first success was the revival of Thomson Press, which now has a net worth of Rs 68.69 crore. He then set up Living Media to publish India Today, which has redefined magazine journalism in the country. Apart from his regional language publications and Business Today, Purie also launched a 24-hour Hindi news channel Aaj Tak in December 2000. Breaking even in the first year itself, Aaj Tak is valued at Rs 180 crore.



Media has a second representative. Economist, chartered accountant, election analyst and broadcaster rolled into one, Prannoy Roy is the best-known face on Indian television. NDTV, the company he set up out of a garage in Greater Kailash in the late 1980s, has a net worth of Rs 112 crore. So, the value of Roy’s 75 per cent stake in NDTV is worth Rs 85.5 crore, but his market value would be significantly higher.



Flamboyant MP Lalit Suri’s net worth is Rs 210 crore. As Suri has already sought to delist Bharat Hotels, its market cap could not be taken as a representative value. Suri’s investments include the Intercontinental in Delhi and five luxury hotels in Srinagar, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore and Udaipur.



Then there’s Kamal Gupta of PP Jewellers, who has a stated turnover of Rs 300 crore. The firm is now diversifying into the garment business, where Gupta is joining hands with leading NIFT designers, besides setting up operations in Paris and Italy, the global design hubs. Including huge showrooms in Karol Bagh and Pritampura, we estimate Gupta’s worth at Rs 140 crore.

An interesting case is that of B K Modi. As all the group’s main companies -- like troubled Modi Rubber and GBC ModiCorp -- are not quoting on the stock exchanges, net worth figures have been employed. In particular, this includes net worth of his 28 per cent holding in Xerox Ltd, which has been delisted.



Finally, coming in last in the listing is the Rastogi family that controls Ram Chandra Krishan Chandra and Roop Sarees. Established in 1927, the company has seen four generations already and their claim to fame includes designing Sonia Gandhi's reception saree. The 11-member strong joint family has 11 stores spread across Delhi as also one outlet in London. They are now planning to enhance their overseas presence by adding three more shops in London, besides setting up stores in New Jersey and other US markets.




Name
Group
Promoter's Market Cap (Rs Crore)
Promoter's Net Worth (Rs Crore)


KP Singh
DLF
Unlisted
6,300


M & S Singh
Ranbaxy
3,964
640


Shiv Nadar
HCL Group
3,805
1,735


Sunil Mittal
Bharti
1,859
1,716


B M Munjal
Hero Group
1,694
522


V C Burman
Dabur
1,030
313


O P Jindal
Jindal Steel
872
830


P R S Oberoi
EIH
400
300


A K Puri
Mohan Export
Unlisted
370


Jai Prakash Gaur
Jaipraksh Ind.
260
500


O P Lohia
Indorama
250
212


B C Jindal
Jindal Polyester
237
434


Deepak Puri
Moser Baer
224
185


Aroon Purie
India Today
Unlisted
223


Lalit Suri
Bharat Hotels
Delisted
210


L M Thapar
Ballarpur Ind
186
278


O S Kanwar
Apollo Tyres
172
118


B K Modi
SpiceCorp
No quote
170


Kamal Gupta
PP Jewellers
Unlisted
140


Satish Kaura
Samtel Group
127
185


K K Modi
Godfrey Philips
120
87


Rajan Nanda
Escorts
104
260


Analjit Singh
Max India
86
360


Prannoy Roy
NDTV
Unlisted
85


Rastogi Family
Roop Sarees, RCKC
Unlisted
80













Figures in Rs crore





Individuals are either ranked by market cap or by net worth. As both data is provided for an individual, the ranking is based on: market capitalisation for listed companies, and net worth has been employed for unlisted companies.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=39367689