India’s cash ban last year put a big dent in the wealth of some of its richest citizens.
The fast growing country now has 100 billionaires, 11 fewer than a year ago, according to an annual ranking of the world’s richest people by the Hurun Report.
As a result it has fallen one spot to fourth in the global billionaires league, behind the U.S., China and Germany.
The Hurun Report said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “demonetisation” was largely to blame.
Modi stunned India on Nov. 8 when he announced the scrapping of all 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.
That decision, aimed at cracking down on tax evasion, took 86% of the country’s cash out of the system and caused many sectors of the economy to slow sharply.
India claims to have weathered the storm, with recent government data showing the economy grew at 7% — higher than expected — in the quarter ended Dec. 31.
But the country’s super rich don’t appear to have fared so well. The Hurun Report says the combined wealth of Indian billionaires fell by 1% last year.
India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, has the 29th largest fortune in the world with an estimated net worth of $26 billion.
