How the fortunes of India's wealthiest declined with changing business environment
Shashi and Ravi Ruia
-$2.4 bln (41.4%)
Rank 41, Down 25 places
The two brothers suffered huge losses in FY17 after their flagship firm Essar Steel, a unit of the Essar Group, faced bankruptcy proceedings under the new Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code introduced this year. It had been declared a non-performing asset by banks in FY16. The company challenged this move in court, but its plea was dismissed. The National Company Law Tribunal has also admitted insolvency proceedings against the company, filed by banks. Essar Steel is part of a list of 12 companies identified by the Reserve Bank of India as chief defaulters; this is a list comprising companies with a loan of more than ₹5,000 crore and those with more than 60 percent of the loans classified as bad loans by banks. The Ruia brothers at their peak were the fourth richest on the 2010 Forbes India Rich List, but have seen a consistent erosion in wealth in recent years.
(This story appears in the 29 December, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)