Pramod ThomasBy: Pramod Thomas
WITH a net worth totalling $33.5 billion, Savitri Jindal of the Jindal Group was ranked as India’s wealthiest woman and holds the sole female position among the top 10 richest women globally on Forbes‘ 2024 list.
She is the sixth wealthiest woman and 46th wealthiest person overall on the list. She is also the fourth wealthiest Indian.
Savitri took over her husband Om Prakash Jindal’s steel and power conglomerate after his sudden death in 2005.
After his passing, his four sons inherited the companies, each of whom now manages their respective businesses autonomously.
The group specialises in power and steel but also has assets in other industries such as mining, power generation, industrial gases and port facilities.
Savitri, 74, has served in the Indian Congress government on two occasions, first as the minister of power and later as the minister of urban local bodies.
However, last Thursday (28) she joined prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after resigning from the membership of the opposition Congress party. Her daughter Seema Jindal also joined the party.
“I represented the people of Hisar (in Haryana) for 10 years as an MLA (state lawmaker) and have served Haryana state selflessly as a minister,” she wrote in her post.
“The people of Hisar are my family and on the advice of my family, I am resigning from the primary membership of the Congress.”
Her decision comes days after her son Naveen Jindal, a former MP, also quit the Congress and joined Modi’s party.
According to the Forbes, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of the founder of L’Oreal, is the richest woman in the world with a net worth of $99.5bn, followed by Alice Walton, the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, with total assets worth $72.3bn.
Julia Koch with net worth $64.3bn was ranked third on the list. She and her three children inherited a 42 per cent stake in Koch Industries from husband David following his death from prostate cancer five years ago.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, is the richest Indian with a wealth of $116bn, followed by Gautam Adani of Adani Group, with a net worth of $84bn.
