Cyrus Mistry in June 2013 (Credit: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

The board of Tata Sons, the holding outfit of India’s $103 billion (revenues) Tata conglomerate, decided today to remove Cyrus Mistry as chairman and appoint former chairman Ratan Tata as its interim boss for four months. A selection committee comprising of four directors and Ratan Tata himself will choose a successor to Mistry, who held office for close to four years.

The unexpected ouster, which was announced after trading hours, sent ripples of shock through India’s corporate establishment. But observers say it was likely the culmination of a situation that was building up over time. ” Ratan’s relationship with Cyrus was never a happy one, ” says an industrialist who knows both families.

Mistry, 48, is the youngest son of  billionaire Pallonji Mistry, India’s fifth richest person with a net worth of $13.9 billion. The billionaire’s biggest asset is his 18.4% stake in the privately held Tata Sons. The Mistrys are also related to the Tata family through marriage. Mistry’s daughter is married to Ratan Tata’s half-brother Noel Tata.

Five years ago, a selection committee appointed by the board of Tata Sons had unanimously selected Cyrus Mistry as Ratan Tata’s successor.  Mistry had spent a year shadowing the legendary chairman before taking charge after Tata’s retirement. However, in a break from the past, Ratan Tata, 78, had retained the chairmanship of the Tata trusts, which hold close to a two-third stake in the holding company.

In recent months, Tata Sons has added new faces to its board. Pharma billionaire Ajay Piramal, industrialist Venu Srinivasan and Amit Chandra, managing director of private equity firm Bain Capital India were inducted in August. The new directors are believed to be close to Ratan Tata.

In his stint at the helm, Mistry had taken some hard decisions, such as selling loss-making assets in the hotels and steel businesses. But the group had faced setbacks of late, notably an adverse ruling in its dispute with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo when a London court ordered the group to pay $1.17 billion as compensation.

Shares of Tata companies are likely to take a hit when the stock market reopens tomorrow.  “There’s bound to be some knee-jerk reaction, “ says Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kris, a Mumbai advisory firm.

While the board did not disclose any reason for taking this extreme step, Tata disclosed in a letter to employees that he had agreed to take charge “in the interest of stability of and reassurance to the Tata group.” 

Soon after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Nov. 8 that all Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes (the equivalent of $7.3 and $14.6) would, in a few hours, turn into “worthless pieces of paper”, Seemaa Makhija’s phone started ringing. The owner and managing director of Travel Voyages, a Mumbai travel firm, was swamped with calls from clients who wanted to cancel their bookings, some for departures that very evening. “Overnight our business has halved,” says Makhija, whose firm, part of the Lufthansa City Center network, clocks in annual revenues of $20 million.

While Travel Voyages mostly has corporate clients who pay by check, the cash crunch is posing daily difficulties. Certain foreign consulates accept visa fees in cash only, as does the government’s passport issuing office, Makhija explains. Her staff of 80 has been taking several hours off from work to line up at crowded banks to withdraw money for personal expenses. “How do I run my company?” she asks.

Cashless in India (Photo credit:SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images)

India’s cash crisis, brought on by Modi’s demonetization, which canceled 86% of all banknotes, equivalent to $207 billion, has hit businesses, and indeed all Indians, across the country in varying degrees. One of the world’s fastest-growing economies is now bracing for an inevitable slowdown that by some estimates could cause economic growth to plunge from an estimated 6.8% to 3.5% in the year ending March 2017. More sanguine predictions maintain that the economic disruption will be short-term, causing not more than a 1% decline in GDP.

On its part, the government has admitted that the economy will dip slightly in the next two quarters but get turbocharged again once the benefits of greater liquidity in the banking system kick in- banks have received close to $75 billion in deposits of old currency. In a recent interview to financial daily The Economic Times, Delhi economist Jean Dreze said that demonetization carries a huge economic risk that could derail India’s growth trajectory: “In a booming economy, blanket demonetization is a little bit like shooting at the tires of a racing car.”

Ajit Ranade, chief economist at Aditya Birla Group, a commodities conglomerate controlled by billionaire Kumar Birla, doesn’t foresee such a dire outcome or any long-term negative impact. “It’s extreme to say that demonetization is like shooting the tires; it’s more like deflating the tire pressure somewhat.” Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group, says that the economy can recover lost ground if the stock of bank notes is replenished quickly. (So far, only 10% of the banned notes have been replaced.)

The drastic measure to withdraw high-denomination banknotes was part of Modi’s crackdown on counterfeit currency and “black money”—illegal earnings on which tax isn’t paid—that amounts to close to one fourth of GDP. One of the electoral promises made by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when it was swept into power in 2014 was to bring back illgotten wealth stashed away overseas. A voluntary-disclosure scheme this year that imposed a 45% tax drew hidden wealth of $10 billion, a paltry amount compared with the $260 billion declared under the first phase of Indonesia’s recent tax-amnesty program.

Rumors of new banknotes had been making the rounds for a while, but demonetization had been ruled out by Raghuram Rajan, the former central bank chief, who stepped down in September. In Rajan’s view, a currency change wouldn’t root out the menace of black money as tax dodgers would find ways around it and might well hold their pile in other forms, such as gold. Therefore Modi’s “surgical strike,” presumably endorsed by Rajan’s replacement, the more pliant Urjit Patel, caught everyone unawares. Curiously, Patel has been invisible and totally silent since November 8.

While Modi was initially lauded for his bold gamble, the currency swap is now being talked about as an ill-judged “carpet-bombing” because of the widespread chaos it unleashed. There were scenes of utter mayhem as banks, which had also been kept in the dark, struggled to cope with the ensuing stampede. Not only was the supply of new rupee refills woefully short of demand but the country’s 200,000-plus ATMs also had to be reconfigured to accommodate the new notes, which are a different size than the old ones. (Reportedly, around 40% of all ATMs have been fixed to date).

Ratan Tata, who came out of retirement in October to take charge as interim chairman of the $103 billion (revenues) Tata conglomerate for four months, when the board of holding outfit Tata Sons ousted previous incumbent Cyrus Mistry, could be stepping down as early as next month.

“ The selection process for the new chairman is well under way, “ says R.K.Krishna Kumar, a close confidante of Ratan Tata and a trustee of the Tata trusts, which own close to two-thirds of Tata Sons. A five-person selection committee, which includes Ratan Tata, was constituted in October to identify Mistry’s successor at the holding firm. The successor could well be in place by the end of January as per Krishna Kumar.

Ratan Tata:in the eye of a storm (Photo credit -/AFP/Getty Images)

The sacking of Mistry, whose family features among India’s richest and owns an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, has since escalated into a full-blown war with the two sides trading charges, including that of financial impropriety, on almost a daily basis. Earlier this week, shareholders of software services giant Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Industries and Tata Teleservices voted to remove Mistry from their boards. Other Tata companies, including Indian Hotels Company and Tata Chemicals whose boards chose to back Mistry, have convened similar meetings next week.

Krishna Kumar, who sits in an office in a South Mumbai heritage building which houses the trusts’ headquarters, maintains that differences with Mistry, who succeeded Ratan Tata four years ago, had been simmering for 18 months prior to his ouster. He insists that what is being portrayed as a Tata vs Mistry battle is a fight to preserve the soul of the Tata conglomerate and ensure its continuation as a cohesive group rather than one that was at risk of being splintered.

The new chairman, says Krishna Kumar, will have to maintain the integrity of the Tata group and ensure that companies are profitable. “ “After all, 66% of Tata Sons’s dividends accrue to the trusts and go back to charity. “ Krishna Kumar, 78, who retired as a Tata Sons director in 2013 after five decades with the group, is a key member of Ratan Tata’s inner circle that includes erstwhile Tata Sons vice-chairman Noshir Soonawala, 81, and R.Venkatramanan, who manages the affairs of all the trusts. Ratan Tata is said to be looking for a candidate to succeed him as chairman of the trusts as well.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran:new Tata boss? (Photo credit: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, speculation as to who the new chairman of Tata Sons will be is rife. Some bets are on Noel Tata, Ratan Tata’s half brother, who is married to Mistry’s sister. The Tata sibling had been in the reckoning five years ago but didn’t make the cut at the time. Names of certain top multinational executives of Indian origin have also been doing the rounds (PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi had been sounded out five years ago). But Tata watchers are of the view that the group isn’t likely to opt for an outsider at this fractious time.

Among the insiders, one leading candidate is Natarajan Chandrasekaran, CEO and managing director of TCS, who has spent close to three decades with the group and was appointed to the board of Tata Sons a day after Mistry’s ouster. A one-company man and avid marathon runner, Chandrasekaran, 53, has been at the helm of the $16.5 billion (revenues) IT firm, which contributes the bulk of Tata Sons’s profits, since 2009. In January, he may well have to face the biggest marathon of his life.

Another contender being talked about is billionaire Ajay Piramal, who joined the board of Tata Sons as a non-executive director, on Ratan Tata’s invitation, in August. The tycoon also features among India’s richest with a fortune of $3 billion and has expanded in a big way into financial services and  real estate after selling out part of his pharma interests in 2010 to Abbott Laboratories. Two Tata Sons directors, notably Amit Chandra, managing director of Bain Capital in India and Nitin Nohria, dean of the Harvard Business School, also have board seats at Piramal group companies Piramal Enterprises and Piramal Realty respectively.

This post was updated from its earlier version

In an unexpected development, Cyrus Mistry, who was ousted eight weeks ago as chairman of Tata Sons, holding outfit of the $103 billion (revenues) Tata conglomerate, resigned from the boards of all listed Tata companies this evening. (He retains a board seat at Tata Sons). Tata has convened shareholder meetings of five group companies this week to vote for Mistry’s removal from their boards. Last week, three Tata companies, including tech giant, Tata Consultancy Services, had voted him out.

The beleagured scion of one of India’s richest clans, who was at the helm of Tata for just under four years, is preparing for what is likely to be a long-drawn out legal battle with the conglomerate in which his family owns an 18.4% stake. “ I have decided to shift this campaign to a larger platform and also one where the rule of law and equity is upheld, “ said Mistry in a statement, which he also read out on national television.

Cyrus Mistry: out but not over (Photo credit:PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)

No concrete reasons until now have been offered for Mistry’s sudden sacking that led to patriarch Ratan Tata coming out of retirement to take charge as interim chairman. In his statement Mistry takes the moral high ground alleging that his attempts to call out certain questionable practices within the group and resolve the governance breakdown at Tata Sons led to his removal, which he refers to as an “illegal coup.”

“It is now clear that my attempt to protect and preserve the ethical legacy of our founding father, Jamsetji Tata, was the real cause for my ouster. The pursuit of good governance and ethical business seem to have caused a serious discomfort in some quarters.” Mistry refers in his statement about a couple of them: Tata’s deals with serial entrepreneur C.Sivasankaran and allegations of fraud at Air Asia India. The Mistry family has held the Tata Sons shares for five decades and was mostly a passive investor until Cyrus Mistry was selected as Ratan Tata’s successor in 2012.

Tata Sons released a statement repudiating Mistry’s allegations and calling his resignations “a deliberate strategy on his part, knowing fully well that the overwhelming majority of the shareholders were not in support of his actions. Unfortunately, Mr. Mistry continues to make baseless, unsubstantiated and malicious allegations using selective disclosures of information against the very institution he claims to have the highest regard for. ”

Despite Mistry’s mass resignations, Tata will have to proceed with the shareholder meetings of three companies-Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals and Tata Power-as it has sought also to remove industrialist Nusli Wadia as an independent director on the grounds that he has teamed up with Mistry and is ‘galvanising’ other independent directors to act against the interests of the group. Denying the allegations, Wadia has initiated legal proceedings against his removal and filed a defamation suit claiming $442 million in damages. Sources close to Wadia indicate that he will not resign but wait for the shareholder votes.

Shailesh Haribhakti, founder, Baker Tilly DHC, the Indian arm of accounting firm Baker Tilly, says that “ Cyrus read the writing on the wall that he would be defeated in the shareholder meetings. To repair and enhance his reputation, it makes sense for him to take the moral high ground. ” Haribhakti rules out a legal battle saying that it would not be in Mistry’s interest to haul the Tatas over the coals. On his part, Mistry alludes to being ready to undergo any “short-term pain” and taking matters to “ their logical conclusion.” The saga is far from over.

After resigning from the boards of key listed Tata companies yesterday, Cyrus Mistry, the ousted chairman of Tata Sons, fired his first legal salvo today by filing a suit with the National Company Law Tribunal in Mumbai. The petition by Mistry’s family investment firms that hold an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, was filed under section 241 of the Companies Act seeking relief from oppression and mismanagement.

Since his sudden removal from the chair of the privately held holding firm of the group in October (though he remains on its board), Mistry has made a series of allegations about wrongdoings at the conglomerate, including those that occurred under his watch. For long regarded as a group that was squeaky clean, Tata’s reputation has been dented in the past eight weeks since the boardroom battle broke out.

Ratan Tata, left, and Cyrus Mistry:bitter parting (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

In a press statement, Tata Sons maintained that it has “followed the highest standards of corporate governance in its operations”, and that Mistry’s actions spring from a “deep animosity” towards his predecessor Ratan Tata, now interim chairman of Tata Sons. It is unfortunate, said Tata, that Mistry has been unable to “to graciously accept the decision of the very same board that appointed him.”

The first hearing of the Tribunal will take place Thursday and Tata has said it will fight the allegations. Speaking to a television channel, Tata’s legal counsel Mohan Parasaran said that the onus is on Mistry to prove the charges.

Mistry’s legal crusade could invite government intervention says a Mumbai banker, though so far the government has opted for a hands-off approach. It also puts pressure on patriarch Ratan Tata to spell out the succession plan at Tata Sons as well as the Tata Trusts, which hold a 66% stake in the holding firm.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the boss of the $16.5 billion (revenues) software giant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and an avid marathon runner has been appointed today by the board of Tata Sons, the holding outfit of the Tata conglomerate, as its next chairman. He will succeed interim chairman Ratan Tata on February 21.

The much-awaited announcement, widely welcomed by other business leaders in the country, turns the page on a fractious period in the history of the $103 billion (revenues) Tata group. The abrupt removal of the previous incumbent, Cyrus Mistry, as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24 had thrown Tata into turmoil and hurt its image as India’s most revered group.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the new boss of Tata .(Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The selection of Chandra, as he is called, is seen as a wise choice given the recent volatility in the top echelons. A Tata lifer and tech veteran, Chandra, 54, has worked his way through the ranks since joining TCS in 1987. He took charge as the company’s chief executive and managing director in 2009. TCS is the most profitable company in the group accounting for the bulk  of the group’s profits.

“ Chandra is a true professional with an impeccable track record who is well-versed with the Tata way and also has the experience of running a global company such as TCS, “ says Vimal Bhandari, CEO, Indostar Capital, a financial firm in Mumbai.

Chandra’s successor at TCS is its chief financial officer Rajesh Gopinathan, 46, who has worked with the company since 2001. NG Subramaniam, the head of the financial solutions division, who coincidentally, is Chandra’s brother, has been elevated to the post of chief operating officer. 

At a press meet shortly after his appointment was announced, Chandra said that while it was a huge honor it was also a huge responsibility. “ I feel overwhelmed. ” But he promised that he would “grow into this role’ and said that he sees one of his key responsibilities as having to “bind the group together.”

Tata has been torn asunder of late with the bitter war of words with former chairman Mistry, who has taken the group to court. The group’s image has taken a beating with the series of allegations leveled by Mistry, including those relating to financial impropriety. (Tata has denied those allegations and any wrongdoing). Mistry hails from the billionaire clan that owns an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons and figures amongst India’s richest.

There seems to be consensus that despite having experience only in the tech sector, Chandra is up to the job. Industrialist Anand Mahindra congratulated the chairman designate, tweeting: “You are now custodian of an Indian icon. You have broad enough shoulders to assume that responsibility!”

Billionaire Anil Ambani, who is an avid runner as well, said that “Having run many marathons with him, I have the highest regard for Chandra’s spirit of endurance, grit, determination and focus.” Taking over from 79 year-old Tata, the new chairman will need all those qualities to steer the group back into more placid waters.  Says he:” Tata’s  heritage makes it a special group. I look forward to building relationships and and creating shareholder value.”

Nusli Wadia: “I’m not Ratan Tata’s ‘yes-man.’ ” Credit: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

Indian industrialist Nusli Wadia, chairman of the $2.2 billion (revenues) Wadia Group, was away in New York when his nation’s biggest corporate feud of 2016 erupted in October. The board of Tata Sons, holding outfit of the much revered $103 billion (revenues) Tata conglomerate, abruptly showed its chairman Cyrus Mistry the door and installed former chairman Ratan Tata, 79, as interim boss for four months.

The boardroom coup, executed with all the stealth of a surgical strike, shocked India’s corporate establishment. Mistry was not just another hired hand but part of a billionaire clan that has an 18.4% stake in the privately held Tata Sons and features among India’s richest, with a fortune of $13.7 billion. Moreover, the families are related through marriage–Mistry’s sister is married to Tata’s half-brother Noel Tata.

“I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was disastrous,” says Wadia, 72, who controls a foods-to-aviation empire with roots in shipbuilding dating back to 1736. Wadia’s old-money fortune is worth at least $3 billion. As the feud escalated to a bitter war of words and eventually landed in court, Wadia emerged as the third protagonist in this real-life drama involving storied clans of the Parsi community who are all interlinked.

Wadia was for decades a close ally of Ratan Tata and had board seats at three major Tata companies–Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals. The two families had long-standing ties: Among much else, the legendary JRD Tata, who chaired the Tata Group for more than five decades and died in 1993, had helped Wadia secure an important part of his inheritance when his father, Neville Wadia, was on the verge of selling the family’s textile unit, Bombay Dyeing, in 1971. Wadia considered the Tata doyen as his godfather, even naming his younger son, Jeh, after him. Wadia says he was offered the chairmanship of Tata Sons by JRD Tata but turned it down, as he felt it was Ratan Tata’s rightful inheritance.

It was expected that Wadia, who is often referred to in the Indian press as a corporate samurai for his numerous legal battles, would join forces with Tata. After taking over as group chairman in 1991, Ratan Tata had leaned on Wadia in the early years, notably to wrest control from independent-minded aging stalwarts at the helm of Tata’s major companies. In the 1990s Wadia had lobbied New Delhi to get the Tata Trusts, which together hold a 66% stake in Tata Sons, voting rights in the holding firm, which were earlier vested with the government.

Some say Wadia’s fighting spirit is embedded in his genes: His mother, Dina, who at age 98 lives in New York, is the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. While Wadia plunged headlong into the Tata brawl on his return, this time, surprisingly, he ended up backing Mistry and not his decades-old friend. At November meetings convened by the independent directors of the three companies, Wadia backed Mistry.

“The way Cyrus was ousted from Tata Sons was shocking and not in keeping with the corporate governance standards set by JRD Tata,” insists Wadia, who rarely meets the press and spends a chunk of time overseas to maintain his status as a nonresident (normally done for tax reasons). Seated in his midtown headquarters in Mumbai one December weekend, Wadia was wearing casual track pants but looking far from relaxed.

The boardroom coup at Tata shocked India’s corporate establishment. Credit: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

Following the board meetings, Tata Sons had convened special shareholder meetings of group companies in December to remove Wadia, along with Mistry, claiming that Wadia had been “galvanizing” other independent directors to act against the interests of the Tata Group. Wadia, who refuted the allegation as false and baseless, was busy drafting detailed representations to the shareholders of Tata companies to argue his case.

He had also made a plea to the Securities & Exchange Board of India, seeking the market regulator’s intervention on his ouster. A group of minority shareholders went to court to challenge his removal, arguing that Tata Sons as the “promoter” in the operating companies shouldn’t be allowed to vote to remove an independent director. While the court did not grant a stay, in a partial victory for Wadia it ruled that the board seat vacated by him could not be filled pending further hearings.

While Mistry saw the writing on the wall and resigned from the boards of six group companies prior to the shareholder meetings, Wadia opted not to do so. With the shareholders voting in Tata’s favor, he lost the board seats that he had occupied for more than three decades. Wadia says: “I’m not Ratan Tata’s ‘yes-man.’ I had to fulfill my fiduciary duty as an independent director.”

Unfazed, he has filed civil and criminal defamation lawsuits against Ratan Tata personally, Tata Sons and its other directors, claiming $445 million in damages on the grounds that the notices seeking his removal had hurt his reputation and goodwill. (The Tata side has denied the allegation.) “There were many revelations emanating from the Tata saga. That Tata and Wadia had fallen out was one of them,” says Shailesh Haribhakti, the founder of Baker Tilly DHC, the Indian arm of accounting firm Baker Tilly.

Tata sources aver that the estrangement was sparked by Tata’s entry in 2013 into the aviation business, a sector in which Wadia was present with Go Airlines, run by his son Jeh. Go, which was losing money until 2012, was keen to get Singapore Airlines as a partner. Wadia is believed to have taken umbrage when Tata teamed up with the Singapore carrier to start rival Vistara.

Wadia debunks that theory, insisting that their relationship had begun fraying much earlier over what he refers to as Tata’s “methods.” He cites the example of Ratan Tata’s recruitment of a controversial New Delhi lobbyist. He elaborates that he wasn’t in favor of Tata Steel’s expensive purchase of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus in 2007 for $12 billion that went on to rack up record losses. (As a Tata Steel director he went along with the consensus.)

Back in: Ratan Tata is interim boss of Tata. Credit: REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Wadia admits that he was initially opposed to Mistry taking over as Tata’s successor partly due to the painful history between their families: Mistry’s, father, Pallonji had backed Wadia senior’s plan to sell Bombay Dyeing and had also opposed the proposal to give Wadia a board seat at Tata Sons. Wadia maintains that, overlooking the past, he sought to establish a working relationship with Mistry and came to appreciate the new chairman’s transparent, collaborative approach. As head of the nominations and remuneration committees of the three Tata firms, Wadia says he gave a high rating to Mistry.

After hurling allegations and counter-allegations, including some about serious financial wrongdoing, Mistry filed a lawsuit against Tata Sons with the National Company Law Tribunal alleging “mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders.” Among much else, he has sought intervention to restrain Tata Sons from removing him from its board and diluting his family’s holding.

In an affidavit filed in response, Ratan Tata has refuted the allegations and outlined the reasons for the growing trust deficit that led to Mistry being fired. Tata Sons has called a shareholders meeting for early February to oust Mistry from its board. With the Tata Trusts’ majority holding, the outcome is a foregone conclusion unless the tribunal rules otherwise.

Mistry, who took a Swiss vacation with close friends in Gstaad over the Christmas holidays, seems in no mood to give up the fight. Wadia, too, says he plans to pursue the lawsuits against his former pal to their logical conclusion because “I don’t draw wooden swords.”

With India’s notoriously sluggish system that could take years, but if he wins, Wadia says he will donate the money to combat child malnutrition, a cause close to his heart. (Wadia’s Britannia Industries, the country’s leading maker of cookies, has a charitable Nutrition Foundation and has developed special products fortified with iron and vitamins to address this problem.)

Billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla, also a Parsi, observes that the prolonged public bickering has sullied the reputation of all parties involved. “They should have enlisted mediators to provide Cyrus an honorable exit.”

In a widely hailed move, Tata has appointed as Mistry’s successor Tata lifer Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, an IT powerhouse that is the group’s most profitable company. While Chandra, as he is called, is the first non-Parsi to get the post, Baker Tilly’s Haribhakti says that opting for an insider with an impeccable track record at such a fractious time is a wise strategy. “No one can quarrel over this choice.”

India’s startup boom has spawned a multitude of providers of shared workspaces across the country, catching the attention of WeWork, the American coworking giant, that has the world’s largest such network. With 90,000 members in more than 100 locations in 14 countries around the world, WeWork is set to make its India debut this year with Bangalore property firm Embassy Group, founded by billionaire Jitendra “Jitu” Virwani.

“It will be Bangalore first as that’s our homeground, ” says Karan Virwani, 25, the billionaire’s oldest son, who initiated and led the year-long negotiations with the American firm. WeWork met several other Indian developers before its handshake with Embassy. “ We are culturally aligned, “ says Karan.

The first WeWork building to open in India, called WeWork Galaxy, is a 140,000 square foot space that will house 2,000 desks. Its location in Bangalore’s downtown precinct is far removed from the city’s buzzing tech zones with their armies of software engineers, such as Electronics City, where tech titans Infosys and Wipro are headquartered.

Backed by private equity firms Blackstone and Warburg Pincus, Embassy’s claim to fame is its development of sprawling tech and office parks extending to 30 million square feet, which have drawn a host of multinational tenants such as IBM, Microsoft and Intel. Virwani started working at his father’s construction firm in his teens, then in 1993 launched on his own with $50,000 borrowed from friends.

Karan’s passage has been much easier though he seems to share his father’s instinct to make his own mark. An undergrad from the University of Kent, Karan returned home to plunge into the family trade as his father’s executive assistant. He soon figured that Embassy was missing out on an obvious opportunity: “Startups were mushrooming but there were simply no good quality offices for them. ”

For WeWork, it will be a low-cost entry into India as the firm is not putting in any of its own capital. While Embassy will invest in the real estate, We Work will, in exchange for a management fee and a slice of the profits, provide the design, technology and training, discloses Christian Lee, WeWork’s head of global development. “ We’ll follow the global playbook. We won’t be diluting the product in any way though we will customize it for the Indian context. ”

WeWork’s next stop is likely to be Mumbai where Embassy has leased a 190,000 square foot building in the Bandra-Kurla Complex, the city’s suburban financial hub, which houses the headquarters of several banks as well as the National Stock Exchange. “ It’s important to be in that center for our target customers, “ explains Karan. By the end of 2017, he foresees three centers will be opened, including one in Delhi.

As for cut-price local competitors, Lee maintains that WeWork faces that in abundance in its home market as well as in China, where it signed a deal last year with real estate group Sino Ocean. “ Local players have a substandard product compared to ours. We provide both space and services that allow businesses to become more productive. Ours is a global community that is a huge draw for small business owners.“ So, for example, WeWork’s Indian tenants will get an access card that can be used around the world.

While the offering will be a cut above, rentals will be “very competitive,” maintains Karan. Of late, WeWork has expanded its model to rent its workspaces to large companies such as Microsoft. Karan says they are in talks with large firms in India as well.

A Mumbai property tycoon says that the concept of shared spaces has the potential to be a serious business of the future. “ Embassy has gone into it on the front foot. There’s no other way to do it. “

[brightcove videoID=5363620350001 playerID=]

LESS THAN TWO weeks after Donald Trump was elected president, he received just his second delegation of foreign leaders. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had been first. Then came a group of his Indian real estate partners: Kalpesh Mehta and Atul and Sagar Chordia.

That meeting, ahead of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, not to mention stalwart allies like Merkel and May, caused an uproar, prompting Trump to announce that he was putting a freeze on foreign partnerships. For Mehta and the Chordias, though, the Trump presidency has created a business boon.

Abhishek Lodha is building Mumbai’s first Trump Tower

“The Trump Organization…took a bold bet on India several years ago, and, recognizing that it is a complex market, they have been flexible and willing to go above and beyond,” says Mehta, an alum, like Trump and three of his children, of Penn’s Wharton School.
Read More: Billionaires’ Secrets To Building Wealth
Mehta is essentially Trump’s Man in Mumbai. Whereas in most countries the Trump Organization focuses on one licensee, Mehta scouts for (and sometimes codevelops with) multiple partners. In all, Trump is licensing five projects, two of which are scheduled to break ground this year.

The politically well-connected Chordia brothers, who have appeared on Forbes Asia ‘s list of the 100 richest Indians, were the first to market, with a pair of 23-story high-rises featuring signature black-glass façades in Pune, a fast-growing tech hub some 90 miles southeast of Mumbai. Sagar Chordia says the deal came together over a one-hour phone call with Don Jr. He met the future president for the first time when they actually signed the deal in June 2012.

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Each floor of Trump Towers Pune contains a 6,100-square-foot apartment designed by Italian architect Matteo Nunziati and priced at a little over $2 million. Sagar Chordia claims that the Trump apartments have garnered a 20% to 25% premium over prices of luxury properties in the area. “Our association with Trump has given [us] an edge,” he says. “Everyone is talking about us.” And indeed, all but six have sold, including two units to Rishi and Ranbir Kapoor, a father-son pair of Bollywood actors, who lease them out for a monthly rent of $7,500, a record by Pune standards. “I would love to say that I was a genius who foresaw that he would be president,” Rishi says. “But honestly, I liked the layout and was confident the Chordias would deliver quality.” Pune real estate has recently been struggling, so renting has become the path of least resistance; the Chordia brothers have put sales of the second tower on hold until the market revives.

A somewhat similar go-slow is playing out in Mumbai, where the city’s first Trump property, a 75-story residential skyscraper with 375 apartments, is under construction, courtesy of another politically connected family, the Lodhas.

Indian liquor and airline baron Vijay Mallya was arrested in London today by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant.  Mallya appeared at the Westminster Magistrate’s Court and was said to have been released on bail. This marks the  beginning of a long- drawn-out legal process for his extradition, which India had formally sought from the U.K. government in February.

Vijay Mallya:long march home (Photo credit: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images)

The 61 year-old  tycoon has been living in the U.K. since March 2016 when he left India after banks began seeking his arrest over unpaid loans. Mallya’s defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes an estimated $1.3 billion and he has been declared as a ‘wilful defaulter’. A court in India has also issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the businessman.

Mallya dismissed Indian media reports about today’s development by tweeting: “Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected.”

” Vijay is not the biggest defaulter in India but this is a high-profile case and the government wants to make an example of it, ” says a billionaire requesting anonymity.

Mallya, who was once envied for his high-rolling lifestyle, last appeared on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012 but dropped off after woes began to mount at Kingfisher. The airline still owes unpaid salaries and dues to its staff.

In December 2015, the tycoon threw a lavish party at his private villa in Goa to celebrate his 60th birthday. The gala arned the ire of banks, which turned up the heat against him. Mallya’s villa was finally sold recently for $11 million. That’s a tiny molehill in the mountain of debt.

Oil and gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s net worth has jumped to $31.3 billion making him the 20th richest person on the planet. Ambani was ranked at number 33 with a fortune of $23.2 billion in the Forbes 2017 Billionaires List, which was published in March.  Since then, India’s richest person has added close to $8 billion on rising shares of his Reliance Industries, which are up by a third from February 17 when stock prices were locked in for the Billionaires List.

Mukesh Ambani:onward march(Photo credit:PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)

Reliance has been enjoying a good run of late as reflected in its latest quarterly results:it reported a 16.6% jump in net profits to $1.2 billion, helped by a double-digit gross refining margin of $11.5 per barrel and good growth in its petrochemicals business. But Reliance has been making the biggest waves in its newest business-telecom. Last September, Ambani launched 4G service Jio and went on to notch up 100 million customers by the end of March.

This business has been a cash guzzler and Reliance has invested an estimated $25 billion to date. But the company has caused a major disruption in India’s hyper-competitive telecom market by offering free voice services and super-cheap data services. ” It’s crystal clear that Jio has achieved a critical mass of customers and with each paying at least $5 a month, it adds up, ” says Arun Kejriwal, founder of Mumbai firm Kris Capital.

Despite his recent gains, Ambani’s wealth still falls short of the peak he had attained in 2008. That year, he featured among the top 5 richest in the world with a net worth of $43 billion. In 2009, his fortune had shrunk to $29 billion but that had still earned him a spot in the top 5 (at number 4). By 2012, he had slipped to number 19 and thereafter fell off from the top 20 altogether.

(Note:Reliance owns Network18, a licensee of Forbes Media.)

Egyptian national Eman Ahmed, who shot to global fame as ‘the world’s heaviest woman’, left India Thursday after an eventful 83-day stay in a Mumbai hospital where she underwent bariatric surgery. While Ahmed, 36, is reported to have lost close to two-thirds of her original weight (and thereby her heavyweight crown), the final days of her Indian sojourn were marked by a bitter public feud between her family and the doctors at the Mumbai hospital who treated her.

Ahmed’s new temporary home is the plush Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi to which she was ferried by an Egypt Air cargo plane that had been converted into an air ambulance to ensure her safe passage. Ahmed and her family, including her mother and sister, are expected to stay at Burjeel for a year, or perhaps longer, at no cost to them.

Vayalil receives his high-profile patient (Photo credit:VPS Healthcare)

“ We will leave no stone unturned to get Eman back to leading as close to a normal life as possible. How long that will take is indeterminate, “ says Shamsheer Vayalil, founder and managing director, VPS Healthcare which owns a network of more than 20 hospitals, including the Burjeel.

He discloses that extensive arrangements have been made for the famous patient and a 15-member team of multi-disciplinary medical experts has been assigned to the case. “ We do the largest number of bariatric surgeries in the region, ” he adds. When Ahmed landed in Abu Dhabi Thursday night, Vayalil welcomed her in the aircraft with a bouquet of flowers.

A former radiologist, Vayalil, 40, is the son-in-law of Middle East retailing billionaire M.A.Yusuff Ali but is a billionaire in his own right. A native of Kerala in south India, he migrated to the Middle East after medical studies and went on to set up VPS in 2007, starting with a single hospital in Abu Dhabi, albeit with his father-in-law’s backing. VPS has lately expanded in India with the acquisition of two hospital groups in north India and south India.

Vayalil says his interest in Ahmed’s case was sparked last year when Egyptian staff at VPS brought it to his notice. His initial offer to treat Ahmed in the UAE was turned down as the family decided to take her to India. After clashing with the Indian doctors over Ahmed’s treatment and discharge schedule, the family approached VPS.

While Vayalil says that he’s motivated purely by humanitarian considerations- “It’s a mission for us”- taking on a high-profile patient will undoubtedly give a huge boost to brand VPS. Vayalil insists that transforming Abu Dhabi into a medical tourism hub in the region is one of his broader goals. For now, it is all about Ahmed. How much does he estimate the treatment to cost? The media-savvy doctor, who has a personal website dedicated to showcasing his numerous awards and accolades, declares that “ We don’t worry about cost. Our philosophy is that when we give, we grow.”

“One-fifth of the world’s population already eats seaweed. But that only means there’s huge room to grow,” says Itthipat “Tob” Peeradechapan, founder of Thai-exchange-listed Taokaenoi Food & Marketing. (Credit: Luke Duggleby/Redux For Forbes)

The Taokaenoi Land store at the popular Terminal 21 mall in central Bangkok is a favorite pit stop for Chinese tourists, who flock there to pick up Thailand’s signature seaweed snack. Taokaenoi’s wafer-thin sheets of crispy dried algae are available in an array of flavors from tom yum to wasabi. These are the East Asian equivalent of potato chips, providing a nutrient-rich fix for a salty snack craving.

“One-fifth of the world’s population already eats seaweed. But that only means there’s huge room to grow,” says Itthipat “Tob” Peeradechapan, founder of Thai-exchange-listed Taokaenoi Food & Marketing. The company dominates the domestic market for seaweed snacks with close to a two-thirds share. Its nearest competitor is Masita, made by beer baron Santi Bhirombhakdi’s (No. 9) Singha, with a 19% market share.

Taokaenoi means “little boss” in Thai, a nod to 32-year-old Tob, a college dropout and former vendor of roasted chestnuts, whose seaweed success has made him something of a youth icon. An early achiever, he shot into the limelight at age 26 when a movie was made about his life titled “The Billionaire.”

In dollar terms, Tob doesn’t make the billionaire cut yet, but he’s on his way. Taokaenoi’s surging sales–up more than a third in 2016 to $136 million–lifted its shares, securing Tob’s debut on the list at No. 44 with $610 million.

The stock has jumped fivefold since the company’s 2015 IPO, a gain that was “beyond our expectations,” acknowledges Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, chief executive of Asia Plus Securities, the lead investment bank for the public issue. He attributes the rise partly to investors’ growing appetite for the food and beverage sector.

Analysts say the post-IPO buzz around Taokaenoi was also sparked by rising sales in China, the company’s biggest overseas market, which contributes more than a third to revenues. “The IPO price hadn’t fully factored in the China play,” says Nantika Wiangphoem, an analyst at Bangkok securities firm DBS Vickers, who tracks the company.

Making Taokaenoi a global brand

At his company’s Bangkok headquarters, Tob, wearing a solid black T-shirt, the color preferred by his icon Steve Jobs, admits to eyeing an even bigger play: to make Taokaenoi a global brand. “The next stop has to be the U.S., as that’s the world’s biggest snacking market,” he says. In the American market, as in China, Taokaenoi will have to fight it out with earlier Korean and Japanese arrivals.

Unfazed, Tob is in the throes of doubling Taokaenoi’s annual production capacity to 12,000 tons. He’s used half the $42 million IPO proceeds to build a new factory that will produce exclusively for export. It is located in an industrial park 47 miles north of Bangkok, close to the historic city of Ayutthya, the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam. Adjacent to Taokaenoi’s 7-acre complex, is, ironically, a PepsiCo plant producing Lay’s potato chips.

Traditional labor-intensive production, whereby seaweed is manually fried (or roasted) in woks, has been replaced here with automation, using imported Korean and Japanese machines and some equipment that was developed in-house. Chief operations officer Boonchai Kowpanich, who oversees the newly-opened unit, says it needs a third of the 3,000 who are employed at the old factory.

Uraiwan Tantisuwannakul, an analyst with CIMB Securities (Thailand), points out that the eight-year tax break that the new unit enjoys, combined with productivity gains and cost savings, should make Taokaenoi more competitive. But, she adds, the company remains vulnerable to price increases of its main raw material. And seaweed isn’t available locally.

Taokaenoi depends on imports from South Korea, but Tob insists that it secures “competitive rates.” The capacity expansion and export push are crucial, he says, for achieving his target of doubling revenue by 2024. “We have to be big or we cannot survive.”

Tob parlayed a stall selling roasted chestnuts into a $1.1 billion enterprise. (Credit: Luke Duggleby For Forbes)

Tob imbibed such survival lessons at an early age. The youngest of three children, he saw his father’s construction business collapse in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis with the bank threatening to take possession of their home. A video game fanatic, he dabbled in selling such fare while at school, netting $10,000. In his freshman year of college, he dropped out to start “a real business” to help with the family’s financial woes.

Humble beginnings 

A visit to a food fair sparked the idea of selling roasted chestnuts. He used $7,200 from his savings to buy equipment and set up a stall at a food court in a mall. But sales were slow, and he contemplated shutting shop and going to work at the McDonald’s opposite his stall. Just then he got a timely break with supermarket chain Tesco Lotus. Sales took off from the get-go. “My kiosk was close to the cash counter,” he says. “It was all about location, location, location.”

He called his fledgling venture Taokaenoi because “my father used to tease me by calling me Little Boss.” Soon he had expanded to 30 locations with monthly sales of $87,000 and 50 staffers. “That wasn’t bad for a 19-year-old,” he says, smiling. But he kept close tabs, visiting every spot at least once a week.

A change in management at Tesco Lotus ended his dream run. The chain wanted him to shift to the parking lot since the smoke from the oven was affecting some customers and turning ceilings black. His offer to retrofit was turned down. Sales plummeted, forcing him to look for other avenues.

Tob latched on to seaweed when a girlfriend brought him a packet of the traditional variety from her university store. “It was love at first bite!” he says. He sensed an opportunity as seaweed snacks were already popular with the younger crowd but were not being made in Thailand in a big way.

He sought know-how from experts at Kasetsart University, which is known for agricultural sciences, and enlisted his mother’s help in creating flavors. “Our original salty and spicy flavors are based on her recipes,” he says. Raising $200,000 by selling some of his chestnut stalls, he set up a factory to make crispy seaweed in 2006.

Wirode Tangwutthikaiwit, founder of PAG Design, the firm that designed Taokaenoi’s logo of a young boy in traditional Chinese attire, recalls being amazed by the teenage Tob. “He was only 19 but had a clear vision for what he was out to do.”

Taokaenoi’s launch at a 7-Eleven store sputtered when the packs were placed on lower shelves, hence out of sight. After Tob persuaded the store manager to move them close to the cashier, sales jumped. In 2008, when Taokaenoi’s sales touched $30 million, his confidence got a boost and he mulled taking Taokaenoi public: “I knew then that I would succeed.”

Bangkok in November 2011, after Thailand’s worst flood in decades. (Credit: JOAN MANUEL BALIELLAS/AFP/Getty Images)

But success spawned competition by the likes of Masita and a raft of smaller copycats. He faced a setback in 2011 when flooding in Thailand devastated Taokaenoi’s factory. Working overtime, he restored production in three months, though the plan for an IPO had to be postponed. “In the foods business if you don’t have your product on the shelves, consumers will try another brand,” he explains.

What if seaweed snacks become passé with consumers? Tob admits that he frets about the possibility but is following Warren Buffett’s advice to stay focused. Taokaenoi’s range now includes corn snacks (Tob Corn) and Seagle seaweed chips made of seaweed powder and a flour mix. Tob has splashed $2 million on Taokaenoi’s latest marketing campaign, which revolves around the popular South Korean boy band Got7.

In recent months, Tob has divested 10% of his holdings to institutional investors, partly to diversify his personal portfolio. Having tasted success, he is keen to back startups and what he calls the “next generation” of entrepreneurs: “Though I am 32, in terms of experience I feel closer to 50.”

For more coverage from Thailand’s Richest 2017, see the stories below:

Thailand’s Wealthiest Rise Against The Odds

The $3.5 Billion Development Set To Rule Bangkok

The Fugitive Red Bull Heir

The Chearavanont brothers of the Charoen Pokphand Group are once again the richest people in Thailand with a fortune of $21.5 billion. Senior Chairman Dhanin Chearavanont is pictured here in February 2017. (Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg)

Thailand’s economy expanded 3.3% in the first quarter of 2017, its highest rate in four years, largely on the back of improved farm production, increased consumer spending and a recovery in exports. The uptick spells good news for a nation under authoritarian rule that is observing a yearlong period of mourning for much revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, at his death the world’s longest-reigning monarch, who ruled over seven decades.

Despite the subdued sentiment, Thailand’s 50 richest are raking it in. They are worth $123.5 billion, up 16% since 2016, outperforming the stock market’s 12% rise in the past 12 months. More than two-thirds of the country’s 50 richest added to their wealth, with the top five notching up the biggest dollar gains.

The Chearavanont brothers of the Charoen Pokphand Group added $3 billion to retain their No. 1 spot with a fortune of $21.5 billion. Liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who remains at No. 2, was in the news for his plan to build a $3.5 billion township in central Bangkok, the city’s biggest development to date, overseen by his younger son, Panote, age 39.

The Red Bull clan, headed by Chalerm Yoovidhya, is the second-biggest gainer in dollars, up $2.8 billion since 2016. Though Red Bull sales are flat, the sector is sizzling and public competitors trade at higher multiples than a year ago. (Chalerm’s son, Vorayuth, has subtracted himself in a criminal matter.)

At 32, Itthipat Peeradechapan is the youngest person on Forbes’ list of Thailand’s 50 richest people. (Credit: Luke Duggleby/Redux For Forbes)

Three are new this year: Itthipat Peeradechapan, founder of seaweed snack maker Taokaenoi Food & Marketing, who at 32 is the youngest on the list; poultry prince Winai Teawsomboonkij, who founded his Thaifoods Group in 1987 with a farm of 20,000 chickens; and Nutchamai Thanombooncharoen, another energy-drink maker and one of only half a dozen women.

The biggest drop in net worth was suffered by Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, whose wealth shrank by $600 million as shares of his hospital chain, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, and airline, Bangkok Airways, both took a hit on falling profits.

Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, who owns Bangkok Airways, saw his net worth drop by $600 million this year. (Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg)

Notable drop-offs include siblings Nijaporn Charanachitta and Premchai Karnasuta, whose flagship, Italian-Thai Development, saw its shares fall 35% in the past year as the government delayed infrastructure spending.

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This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges and analysts, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and regulatory agencies. Unlike our billionaire rankings, this list encompasses family fortunes, including those shared among extended families of multiple generations. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of May 18. Private companies were valued based on comparisons with similar companies that are publicly traded.

Additional reporting by Ron Gluckman, Sean Kilachand, Suzanne Nam, Phisanu Phromchanya and Anuradha Raghunathan

For more coverage from Thailand’s Richest 2017, see the stories below:

The ‘Little Boss’ Who Reaped A Bounty From Flavored Seaweed

The $3.5 Billion Development Set To Rule Bangkok

The Fugitive Red Bull Heir

Vorayuth Yoovidhya’s grandfather cofounded Red Bull. His family, led by Vorayuth’s father, Chalerm, is Thailand’s fourth richest, with a $12.5 billion fortune. (Credit: Matt Dunham/AP Photo)

Early one September morning in 2012, a speeding black Ferrari ran over and killed a motorcycle policeman in central Bangkok and fled the scene. While the cops were quick to identify the alleged culprit by following a trail of brake fluid to his home, nearly five years on–unbelievably–he has yet to be brought to book.

The driver was allegedly Vorayuth Yoovidhya, whose late grandfather Chaleo Yoovidhya cofounded the global energy-drink maker Red Bull. The family, led by Vorayuth’s father, Chalerm, is Thailand’s fourth richest, with a $12.5 billion fortune. Ignoring multiple police and court summonses, Vorayuth, whose nickname is Boss, is on the lam at an unknown overseas location.

The high-profile case, which has incited public anger over the blatant impunity enjoyed by the rich, returned to the headlines recently as some of the charges Vorayuth could face–for speeding and reckless driving causing property damage–lapsed owing to the statute of limitations, though he still faces charges of reckless driving causing death and failing to help the victim. Last month, days before he was to appear in court, Vorayuth reportedly flew to Singapore, from where he fled.

His disappearance prompted prosecutors to take urgent actions. A warrant for the scion’s arrest was finally issued and his passport revoked by the Foreign Ministry. The government said it was seeking Interpol’s help for Vorayuth’s extradition. Despite these moves, the general perception is that the law will never catch up with the fugitive heir.

Police in Bangkok examine a Ferrari driven by Vorayuth Yoovidhya, a grandson of late Red Bull founder Chaleo Yoovidhya, and a motorcycle, both involved in an accident, in September 2012. Vorayuth is accused of killing a Thai police officer in a hit-and-run in 2012, yet he still has not appeared to face charges. (Thai Daily News via AP)

Indeed, in the aftermath of the accident, Vorayuth didn’t seem racked with remorse. He continued to live the high life and, as reported by AP, posted photos on social media from glamorous foreign locales as he hit the ski slopes and racing tracks, among much else. (The family did not respond to a request for comment.)

Desh Bandhu Gupta, founder and chairman of generics maker Lupin died Monday in Mumbai at age 79. The pharma pioneer, who is believed to have been ailing, had a 47% stake in Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Lupin, which earned him a place among the world’s billionaires with a fortune of $3.6 billion. Lupin has also featured on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s biggest public companies.

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A former chemistry professor from the desert state of Rajasthan, Gupta moved to Mumbai and began working for a pharma multinational. But the scientist in him yearned for more.  He dipped into his wife’s savings to buy a tiny vitamin company in 1968 and pursue his dreams. He named his generics company Lupin after a flower that blooms even in barren soil.

Gupta focused on neglected niches like tuberculosis, a disease widely prevalent in India at the time and went on to achieve world leadership in anti-TB drugs.  Today his Lupin is India’s second largest generics firm deriving more than half of its $2.5 billion revenues from the U. S. and Japan. Gupta, who preferred to wear a bandhgala, a traditional Indian jacket, formally handed over charge in 2013 to two of his U.S.-educated children: daughter Vinita and son Nilesh, both of whom had worked with him for a long time and were groomed by him, ensuring a seamless succession.

Under the hard-charging siblings, Lupin expanded into the the U.S. with Vinita based in that country and Nilesh overseeing affairs from Mumbai. Apart from making strides in the U.S. the siblings have been on an acquisition spree to expand Lupin’s global footprint, notably in Japan. Lupin’s most recent acquisition in that country, a portfolio of 21 brands from Osaka-based Shionogi, has boosted its position to the sixth largest generics player in that country.

Singapore in June 2017 (TOH TING WEI/AFP/Getty Images)

Singaporeans got a jolt in June when a quietly raging dispute between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his two siblings exploded on social media. Such unprecedented public venting, by the late Lee Kuan Yew’s heirs no less, exposed a rare vulnerability in the tightly governed nation, which has also faced the threat of regional isolation lately.

Witness its strained relations with China and the exclusion of Prime Minister Lee from Beijing’s Belt and Road summit in May. (He got face time with President Xi Jinping later at the G20 summit.)

Despite these headwinds and a sluggish economy, which grew 2% in 2016, the total net worth of Singapore’s 50 richest, at $104.6 billion, is up 11% from a year ago, bolstered by a similar rise in the main stock index. Close to two thirds of the tycoons on the list saw their fortunes increase, even as the price of entry rose to $540 million from $455 million last year.

The top spot

While property siblings Robert & Philip Ng retain their No. 1 spot for the eighth year in a row, with a fortune of $9.4 billion, Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin is closing in. A Singapore resident for the past five years, Saverin, who now backs startups, jumps one spot, to No. 2, with $9.3 billion.

Robert Ng in October 2012. Robert and his brother Philip have been Singapore’s richest people for eight years straight. (Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg)

The biggest gainers and newcomers

Another big gainer is reclusive paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, whose holding in Japan’s Nippon Paint Holdings got a boost from strong sales in Asia as well as an expansion in the U.S. with the acquisition of Dunn-Edwards Paints. Budget hotels pioneer Choo Chong Ngen is benefiting from his entry into the midtier hotel segment.

Read more: Meet The Hotel Founder Who Made Billions In Singapore’s Red-Light District

Two newcomers enter the ranks: hedge fund star Danny Yong, cofounder of Dymon Asia Capital, and Saurabh Mittal, cofounder of Indian real estate and financial-services group Indiabulls, who relocated to Singapore three years ago after selling a chunk of his stake. Last year’s dropout Ching Chiat Kwong, known for building shoebox apartments, stages a comeback as shares of his Oxley Holdings popped on brisk overseas sales.

Loo Choon Yong of Raffles Medical Group

Those that stumbled

More than a fifth of those returning to the list were poorer, including Loo Choon Yong of Raffles Medical Group, whose expansion in China has analysts worried. Five tycoons in this group have their wealth linked to real estate, a sector that has yet to see an uptick, though some of the biggest property names have cornered prized enclaves in the land-scarce nation.

Read more: What Land Scarcity? Singapore’s Property Tycoons Manage To Carve Out Prized Turfs

Among the three members of last year’s list who dropped off is John Chuang, whose chocolate maker, Delfi, saw a fall in sales in Indonesia, its biggest market.

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Methodology 

The list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and other sources. Unlike our billionaire rankings, this list includes family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as that of Kwek Leng Beng and his cousins. Net worths are based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on July 14. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.

Additional reporting by Michael Chu, Russell Flannery, Sean Kilachand, Jane A. Peterson, Anuradha Raghunathan, Jessica Tan and Kate Vinton.

Selling to India’s 1.3 billion people is both lucrative and daunting. Hindustan Unilever knows how to do it better than most. “India is not one homogeneous market,” says Sanjiv Mehta, CEO of the Indian branch of the Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant. “There are many Indias.”

Sanjiv Mehta:selling to “many Indias”

Three years ago, Mehta split the country into 14 “clusters,” with products, advertising and distribution tailored for each. In rural central India, where farmers have limited TV access but own mobile phones, Hindustan Unilever started a mobile-based radio channel, Kan Khajura Tesan (translation: “Ear Worm Station”), with Bollywood music and other entertainment interspersed with product jingles. It has brought in 50 million subscribers for the free service.

Hindustan Unilever’s sales in central India are growing faster than elsewhere in the country and account for a fifth of the company’s $5.2 billion in annual revenue. With this success in mind, the cluster model is being evaluated for use in other Unilever markets. Says Mehta “ There is no such thing as a global consumer. Consumers are always local.” 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pictured in Berlin, Germany in May, 2017. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

This story is part of Forbes’ reporting on India’s 100 Richest 2017. See full coverage here.

India’s turbocharged economy sputtered in the quarter ended in June, with growth slowing to a 3-year low of 5.7% — thanks in part to aftershocks from last November’s demonetization, which saw 86% of all rupees in circulation scrapped, as well as uncertainties over the July rollout of a nationwide goods and services tax.

But in a disconnect from current reality, the stock market scaled new heights. That boosted the fortunes of the nation’s 100 richest, whose combined wealth reached $479 billion.

Ten years at No. 1

None gained more than oil and gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani, who cemented his decade-long hold on the No. 1 spot by adding a staggering $15.3 billion to his net worth. He’s now among Asia’s top five richest.

Mukesh Ambani at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, 2017. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Shares of Ambani’s Reliance Industries (owner of Forbes India’s publisher) were boosted by improved refining margins and the “Jio effect”: his telecom unit Reliance Jio’s thundering success in notching up 130 million subscribers since its 2016 launch (though it remains a cash guzzler). By offering free domestic voice calls, dirt-cheap data services and virtually free smartphones, Jio sparked a wave of consolidation in the market. Witness the recent merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, the latter owned by Kumar Birla (India’s 8th richest), another big gainer this year.

Virtually everyone on the list from last year saw their wealth rise, with as many as 27 adding a handsome $1 billion or more. Among them, acquisitive auto parts tycoon Vivek Chaand Sehgal, whose Motherson Sumi Systems snatched Finnish truck-parts maker PKC Group for $620 million in March. Veteran investor Radhakishan Damani returned with a bang, boosted by the March listing of his supermarket chain D-Mart. 

Winners and losers

The Indian billionaire factory churned out several new faces but only half a dozen of them appear in the top 100 as the minimum net worth to make the cut rose to $1.46 billion from $1.25 billion last year.

Read more on Forbes: Ten Up-And-Comers Who Missed The Cut For India’s Richest 2017

The richest newcomer is cookies-and-airline tycoon Nusli Wadia. Among other new entrants are self-made banker Rana Kapoor, cofounder of Yes Bank; Dinesh Nandwana of e-governance services firm Vakrangee and India’s digital poster boy, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, whose mobile wallet Paytm is backed by China’s Alibaba and Japan’s SoftBank.

India’s digital poster boy, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, earns a spot on this year’s list for the first time. (Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg)

A dozen members are poorer than a year ago, half of them from the pharma sector, which is plagued by challenges. 

Pharma magnate Dilip Shanghvi took the biggest hit, with his net worth falling by $4.8 billion. Shares of generics maker Lupin, whose patriarch Desh Bandhu Gupta died in June, also declined, shrinking the fortune of his heirs. Three of the nine members from last year’s list who dropped out have their wealth tied to pharma, including Glenn Saldanha, whose Glenmark Pharmaceuticals saw its shares sink on falling revenues and profits.

Read more on Forbes: Bitter Pill To Swallow For India’s Pharma Companies

Brothers Shashi & Ravi Ruia also suffered a drop as their Essar Steel faced bankruptcy proceedings under India’s stricter new law.

Methodology

This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and India’s regulatory agencies. The ranking lists family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as the Godrej and Bajaj families. Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 15. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded.

Additional reporting by Debojyoti Ghosh, Sean Kilachand and Anuradha Raghunathan.

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Sun Pharmaceutical Industries reported a loss of $66 million for the quarter ended in June. (Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg)

This story is part of Forbes’ reporting on India’s 100 Richest 2017. See full coverage here.

In 2014, Dilip Shanghvi, founder of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, India’s most valuable drug company, became the country’s second-richest person, dislodging steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal. After his $4 billion acquisition of scandal-tainted rival Ranbaxy Laboratories from Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo, Shanghvi was on a roll. The same was true of India’s pharma sector, which was minting billionaires at a record rate.

Today both are facing serious headwinds. The pharma magnate is the biggest dollar loser this year, with his net worth falling by more than a fourth. That brought to an end his three-year run as India’s second-richest and he slipped to No. 9.

In the quarter ended in June, Sun’s sales declined 23% from a year earlier, partly because of a generics pricing squeeze in the U.S., the company’s biggest market. It reported a loss for the quarter of $66 million, its first in four years, due largely to one-off legal costs.

Industry-wide woes

Sun’s woes are mirrored across the Indian generics sector, which has been struggling lately with quality issues and increased competition in export markets. In contrast to the broader stock market rally, the pharma index has fallen 17% since our previous list, knocking three pharma tycoons from the ranks and denting the net worths of several of those who remain.

The Indian generics sector has been struggling lately with quality issues and increased competition in export markets. (Sanjit Das/Bloomberg)

Notable among the latter are the Reddy family (India’s 97th richest) of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Murali Divi (India’s 77th richest) of Divi Laboratories. Both listees are based in Hyderabad and both saw their wealth shrink by close to a third. Shares in Dr. Reddy’s fell 6% on a single day in September on news that an audit of one of its factories by German regulators had uncovered manufacturing lapses. An import alert issued by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for one of Divi’s Laboratories’ factories caused sales and net profits to plummet in the quarter ended June.

“From being a defensive play, the pharma sector has turned into a wealth destroyer,” says Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kris, a Mumbai investment advisory firm. But in his view, there isn’t further downside as “several top companies are already trading at 12-month lows.”

Read more on Forbes: India’s Public Health System Is Failing Its Poor

One privately-held fortune that bucked the trend was that of Hasmukh Chudgar (India’s 50th richest), founder of Intas Pharmaceuticals, who ran up a 70% gain following a private equity deal that valued his company at $3.5 billion.

Says Ranjit Shahani, vice chairman and managing director of Novartis India, “Given the huge healthcare needs of this country, India remains a sweet spot.”