The 40 Richest Indians, Mukesh Ambani is richest Indian

These are painful times for India's richest as the ongoing global turmoil drastically reshapes their fortunes. The country's once soaring stock market fell 48% in the 12 months, the rupee depreciated 24% against the dollar and gross domestic product growth is expected to slow down to 7.5%, partly owing to double-digit inflation.

Mentioning that these are painful times for India's tycoons, Forbes said compared with the last year, the net-worth of the country's 40 wealthiest people fell by $ 212 bn to $139 bn.

The combined net-worth of India's 40 richest has nosedived by 60%, hitting steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal the hardest, as he had to vacate the four-year held Numero Uno position to Reliance Industries' Mukesh Ambani.

Mukesh Ambani, 51, just about pipped Mittal to first rank for the first time despite losing $28.2 billion during the past year. His estranged brother Anil Ambani took the third spot despite being the biggest dollar-loser with his net worth eroded $32.5 billion, the magazine said.

Mittal saw his fortune drop by $30.5 bn amid declining steel prices. Last year, Mittal had a net-worth of $ 51 bn.

Meanwhile, the Ambani Brothers -- Mukesh and Anil -- together lost as much as $60.7 bn since the past year.

The wealth erosion was across the board as on an average 33 of the 34 people that returned to the list this year have become poorer by at least 20%, Forbes said.

"Thirty three of the 34 tycoons who returned to the our rankings of India's richest are at least 20% poorer than they were a year ago," the magazine said.

"Only one fortune from last year's ranks increased, that of brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, who sold their 34% stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories to Japan's Daiichi Sankyo at a hefty premium to its current stock price.

Six people dropped off our list altogether after losing a collective $7.9 billion. They included flamboyant liquor and airlines tycoon Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines is racking up losses, and Gautam Thapar, whose Ballarpur Industries is India's largest paper maker. Taking their places are four newcomers, including Micky Jagtiani, who oversees a retailing empire in the Middle East, and Hemant Shah, son of a Bollywood film producer, who made his fortune in construction.

Returning to the list after a one-year absence are Yusuf Hamied, head of generics producer Cipla, and Brijmohan Lall Munjal, patriarch of Hero Group, which makes motorcycles and bicycles.

Some more sobering statistics: While all 40 tycoons were billionaires last year, only 27 now have 10-figure fortunes, nine fewer than in 2006.

Tulsi Tanti, head of wind power major Suzlon, and his brothers lost 91 percent of their wealth. Real estate tycoon K.P. Singh of DLF lost $27.2 billion since the Forbes Asia list was published last year but an amazing $39 billion since his stock peaked in Jan this year.

In fact, real estate fortunes saw the most erosion. Unitech’s Ramesh Chandra’s net worth eroded 91 percent to $1 billion even as his company lost half its market capitalization in just one day in Oct.

Only those with pharmaceuticals fortunes managed to beat the market, but the falling rupee made sure that they too ended up with losses. India’s most valuable drug maker Sun Pharma’s Dilip Sanghvi lost $800 million although his net worth in rupees actually increased.