The “Sunday Times Rich List” 2023 reveals a decline in the wealth of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty. The couple, who made their debut on the list last year, has slipped from the 222nd position to 275th this year, with an estimated wealth of GBP 529 million. The drop in their wealth is largely attributed to the decrease in the value of Murty’s shares in Infosys, the Indian software firm co-founded by her father, Narayana Murthy.
According to the analysis of the rich list, the couple’s most valuable asset has been their shareholding in Infosys. However, over the past year, their wealth has fallen by more than half a million pounds a day. When they entered the list last year, their stake in Infosys was worth approximately GBP 690 million. The decline in their wealth is a result of Infosys’ shares plummeting due to lower revenues from its banking, tech, and other clients.
The top position on the “Sunday Times Rich List” 2023 is once again held by the Indian-origin Hinduja family, whose wealth has increased over the past year to reach GBP 35 billion. This marks the largest fortune ever recorded by the newspaper. The ranking comes shortly after the passing of the family patriarch, Srichand P. Hinduja, at the age of 87. The Hinduja family’s statement expressed their grief at his demise and highlighted the mantra of harmony within their household: “Everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone.”
However, the rich list also sheds light on the tensions within the Hinduja family. An eight-year courtroom battle between the children of Srichand and his three uncles, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok, revealed the underlying conflicts within this billionaire dynasty. The feud began in 2015 when Srichand claimed that his uncles tried to wrest ownership of Hinduja Bank from him. The bank had always been owned by Srichand, with its chairman being his eldest daughter, Shanu, and its chief executive being Shanu’s eldest son, Karam.
Among the other notable entries on the 2023 rich list are the India-born brothers, David and Simon Reuben, ranked fourth with an estimated fortune of GBP 24.399 billion. NRI tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal, the chairman of ArcelorMittal steelworks, occupies the sixth position with GBP 16 billion, a decrease of GBP 1 billion from the previous year. Anil Agarwal, the industrialist behind Vedanta Resources, ranks 22nd with an estimated fortune of GBP 8 billion.
Several other Indian-origin billionaires feature on the list, including textiles entrepreneur Prakash Lohia at 33rd, retail moguls Mohsin and Zuber Issa at 40th, and pharma chiefs Navin and Varsha Engineer at 61st. Notably, King Charles III, the new British monarch, also makes his entry on the list, surpassing the wealth of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The “Sunday Times Rich List” is compiled based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets like art, and significant shares in publicly quoted companies. Bank accounts to which the newspaper has no access are excluded from the calculations. It is worth noting that the actual size of the fortunes of the country’s wealthiest individuals could be larger than the estimated figures provided.
In its 35th year, the “Sunday Times Rich List” for 2023 reveals a decline in the number of billionaires compared to the previous year, marking the first such decrease.
