Kolkata's Richest Marwaris

There are any number of lists of the super rich the world over - richest actors, richest inheritors, richest musicians, richest businessmen, richest geeks...or just the richest.

India too has its fair share of the rich and famous, although their paisa-power cannot be guaged accurately since a lot of their money does not show up on the public radar. The reason for this is, the display of wealth is often followed by a visit from the taxman or a phone call from Dubai or Karachi. Another reason is our high tax rates. So only a relatively small portion is accounted for while the major bulk of it finds its way into privately held companies, numbered accounts, real estate, paintings, vintage cars, etc

The Moneybags Survey
The Economic Times has plans to survey the rich and wealthy businessmen and industrialists - community-wise and even city-wise. The criteria for judging is their balance sheet, ranked market capitalization, opinions from friends and associates of the nominees, opinions from the nominees themselves, a straw poll from within the community and finally a dash of perception.

ET’s calculations do not take into account the personal stake of the industrialists in the companies they control. Firstly, because personal holdings, as well as those of family, friends and associates, are not in the public domain. And secondly because stakes are held through a maze of intricate cross-holdings, woven across a multitude of unlisted investment companies.

Also, the real estate holdings have not been factored into the listings. Even though the New Economy has taken quite a bit of the sheen off these old economy industrial stalwarts, many in the top 10 are still well known for their vast holdings of prime real estate in Kolkata and across the country. But much of that stays in the realm of conjecture.

To begin with ET decided to survey the Marwaris of Kolkata . Why Marwaris, you ask? Because they are India's oldest business community. Here's what they came up with:

Top 10 Marwaris of Kolkata

Moneyed Order

B K Birla	K K Birla	R P Goenka	Priyamvada Birla

Note: Equity, Net Worth and Total Assets are aggregates of the total no. of Rs(crore) companies
in the group. M-Cap relates to the aggregates of no. of listed companies in the group.

The Straw Poll
(Word of Mouth)

And the winner is:

Basant Kumar Birla. Any which way you look at it, he’s right there at the top — the richest Marwari industrialist in Kolkata. Be it by market cap, the straw poll within the city's business community or just plain perception. The 18 listed companies under his fold pitchforks BK Birla right to the top, controlling Rs 752 crore and total group assets of Rs 6,453 crore.

He is closely followed by KK Birla, sitting at the helm of a market cap of Rs 544 crore and total group assets of Rs 6,213 crore.

There is some difference of opinion in the market cap ranking and that of the opinion poll as regards the next Richie Rich. Although he can never figure in the first list as he runs no listed company, every opinion pegs Arun Bajoria as second to BK Birla. This jute baron's wealth, is stuff legends are made of - he accounts for 12% of the total jute production capacity in the country.

Rama Prasad Goenka, ranked third by market cap of the 13 companies, has the highest total assets under control at Rs 14,327 crore from 46 companies (also the highest among all the 10) that he controls.

Priyamvada Birla at the helm of Birla Corp with nine companies, five listed companies with a market cap of Rs 293 crore and a group asset base of Rs 1,556 crore, is some way behind at fourth position.

A close fifth is BM Khaitan whose 11 companies, including the best known Eveready Industries India, command a market cap s at Rs 290 crore, but far higher group assets of Rs 2,991 crore.

At sixth is Umang Kejriwal with just one listed company — Electrosteel Casting — but commanding a hefty market cap of Rs 214 crore.

The race thereafter gets really close - CK Somani takes the seventh position just ahead of CK Birla at eight, whose four listed companies have a market cap of Rs 181 crore.

There’s a tie (going strictly by numbers) between Vivek Saraogi of Balrampur Chini Mills and BG Bangur for the ninth position. Mr Saraogi’s Balrampur Chini has a market cap of Rs 169, almost the same as the combined market cap of four listed companies in Mr Bangur’s fold.

And as far as the top half of the list is concerned, the opinion poll matches the one that goes by market cap. After the first five, however, opinion polls and market cap rankings diverge widely. That’s where leading lights of the Marwari community and some first generation businessmen get into the picture. SP Budhia of Patton Tank, stockbroker Shyam Sunder Dalmia, PR Agarwal of Rupa, and RS Agarwal of Emami are close contenders for ranks six to 10. But then, the companies they control are either not listed or their equity shares are not traded, and therefore do not figure in the market cap listing.

Not included in the tables are two city industrialists, GP Goenka and Harshavardhan Neotia — both otherwise prominent, but not reckoned to be in the top 10 by market cap or the straw poll. Sudarshan K Birla too doesn’t make the grade.

Source: The Economic Times