Wipro chief Azim Premji, Reliance’s Mu-kesh and Anil Ambani, London-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and Biocon’s co-founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw are among the 40 who figure in the Forbes magazine’s maiden list of the richest Indians worldwide, the Press Trust of India reported.

Of the top 40 richest Indians, 11 are from the technology sector and nine from the pharma sector and while some of them have inherited wealth, 19 of them are entirely self-made billionaires as well as millionaires. Sixteen of the 40 richest Indians live in Mumbai, eight in Bangalore and eight in Delhi.

The magazine’s list of the top richest people in India, to be out in its Dec. 20 issue, places Mittal, who is also Britain’s richest Indian, at the top with a wealth of $11.2 billion.

His company, Ispat International, aims to become the world’s largest steel firm. Mittal, who owns the world’s fourth largest steel group, is ranked 272nd in the Forbes world rich list.

Mittal is followed in the second place by Wipro’s Azim Premji with $10 billion, whom the magazine described as the “software magnate with global ambitions.” Premji owns 84 percent of Wipro.

Mukesh and Anil Ambani were ranked third in the list with a wealth of $6.4 billion inherited from their father, Reliance Group founder Dhirubhai Ambani.

Ranked fourth is Kumar Mangalam Birla with $3.5 billion. He is the fourth generation head of the Aditya Birla Group, India’s largest cement producer. Construction magnate and real estate developer, Pallonji Mistry is fifth on the list with wealth of $2.9 billion.

India’s biotech pioneer and co-founder of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the sole woman on the list with personal assets of $455 million and is ranked 30th.

The net worth of the individuals is calculated on the basis of current share prices, exchange rate and in some cases, recent dividends for those with publicly traded fortunes, and for privately held fortunes, they were estimated based on the value the companies would be worth if they were public, Forbes added.

The others in the list are: Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Group, Shiv Nadar of HCL, Adi Godrej of Godrej Industries, Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy, Dilip Sangvi of Sun Pharma, Anil Agarwal of Sterlite, Shashi and Ravi Ruia of Essar, Om Prakash Jindal of Jindal Group, Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto, N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, Subhash Chandra of Zee Telefilms, Yusuf Hamed of Cipla, Brijmohan Lal Munjal of Hero Group, Habil Khorakiwala of Wockhardt, Vivek Burman of Dabur, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, S. Gopalakrishnan of Infosys, N.S. Raghavan of Infosys, Narendra Patni of Patni Computers, Ajay Piramal of Nicholas Piramal, Vijay Mallya of UB Group, Pankaj Patel of Zydus Cadila, Baba Kalyani of Kalyani Group, B. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, of Biocon, Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma, K. Dinesh of Infosys, Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra, S.D. Shibulal of Infosys, K. Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy’s, Narottam Sekhsaria of Gujarat Ambuja, Jaiprakash Gaur of Jaiprakash Industries, Shyam and Hari Bhartia of Jubilant Organosis, Keshub Mahindra of Mahindra and Mahindra, and Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin.

(Compiled from news dispatches by Shaji Iype)