100 Richest Indians - 2011

Around the same time two years back, I had posted  an analysis of the Forbes 100 richest Indians in year 2009. I revisited the list of the 100 richest Indians in  year 2011 to see the trend and some observations are as follows.

1. The richest Indians continue to be based out of a similar number of cities like before (100 Richest Indians - 2009). 
2. The new addition to the list is Bhopal and Ramesh Agrawal of Dainik Bhaskar is the new entrant to the list of the 100 richest Indians from Bhopal.
3. Bangalore, Bhopal, Delhi, Kolkatta, and Singapore now boast of an increase in the number of people in the top 100 richest Indians list.
4. Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Gibraltor showed a decline in the number of people figuring in the top 100 richest Indians list.
5. The oldest person in the 100 richest Indian list is 88 years old.
6. The youngest persons in the 100 richest Indian list are 40 years old.

Cities	2011	2009	Change
Ahmedabad	5	5	↔
Bangalore	12	9	↓
Bangalore/Delhi	1	1	↔
Bhopal	1		↑
Chennai	4	5	↓
Delhi / New Delhi	21	20	↑
Dubai	1	1	↔
Hisar/Delhi	1	1	↔
Hyderabad	3	5	↓
Kolkata	4	2	↑
London	2	3	↓
Mumbai	35	37	↓
Mumbai/Belgaum		1	↓
Mumbai/London	3	2	↑
Pune	5	6	↓
Singapore	1	1	↔
Singapore/Delhi	1		↑
Gibraltar		1	↓
Grand Total	100	100

Anil Agarwal, based out of London and hailing from Bihar, is the only person from Bihar, figuring in the 100 Richest Indian list and has moved down 5 notches from number 11 in 2009 to number 16 in 2011.

The list of the 100 Richest Indians in 2011 is as follows:

Rank	Name	Age	Hometown
1	Mukesh Ambani	54	Mumbai
2	Lakshmi Mittal	61	London
3	Azim Premji	66	Bangalore
4	Shashi and Ravi Ruia	-	Mumbai/London
5	Savitri Jindal	61	Hisar/Delhi
6	Sunil Mittal	54	Delhi
7	Gautam Adani	49	Ahmedabad
8	Kumar Birla	44	Mumbai
9	Pallonji Mistry	82	Mumbai
10	Adi Godrej	69	Mumbai
11	Dilip Shanghvi	56	Mumbai
12	Kushal Pal Singh	80	Delhi
13	Anil Ambani	52	Mumbai
14	Shiv Nadar	66	Delhi
15	Uday Kotak	52	Mumbai
16	Anil Agarwal	58	London
17	Malvinder and Shivinder Singh	-	Singapore/Delhi
18	Rahul Bajaj	73	Pune
19	Micky Jagtiani	60	Dubai
20	Anand Burman	59	Delhi
21	Brijmohan Lall Munjal	88	Delhi
22	Subhash Chandra	60	Mumbai
23	Kalanithi Maran	46	Chennai
24	Pankaj Patel	58	Ahmedabad
25	Indu Jain	75	Delhi
26	Cyrus Poonawalla	70	Pune
27	Desh Bandhu Gupta	73	Mumbai
28	Rajan Raheja	57	Mumbai
29	Sudhir and Samir Mehta	-	Ahmedabad
30	Yusuf Hamied	75	Mumbai/London
31	Chandru Raheja	71	Mumbai
32	N.R. Narayana Murthy	65	Bangalore
33	G.M. Rao	61	Bangalore
34	Venugopal Dhoot	60	Mumbai
35	Gautam Thapar	50	Delhi
36	S. Gopalakrishnan	56	Bangalore
37	Nandan Nilekani	56	Bangalore/Delhi
38	Ajay Kalsi	49	Delhi
39	K. Anji Reddy	70	Hyderabad
40	Vikas Oberoi	41	Mumbai
41	Niranjan Hiranandani	61	Mumbai
42	Rakesh Jhunjhunwala	51	Mumbai
43	Ajay Piramal	56	Mumbai
44	Harsh Mariwala	60	Mumbai
45	Jaiprakash Gaur	80	Delhi
46	Balvant Parekh	87	Mumbai
47	Shyam and Hari Bhartia	-	Delhi
48	Ashwin Dani	69	Mumbai
49	Vijay Mallya	55	Bangalore
50	M.G. George Muthoot	62	Delhi
51	Kapil and Rahul Bhatia	-	New Delhi
52	Bhupendra Kumar Modi	62	Singapore
53	Murali Divi	60	Hyderabad
54	Mangal Prabhat Lodha	55	Mumbai
55	Murugappa Family	-	Chennai
56	Brij Bhushan Singal	74	New Delhi
57	Rajesh Mehta	47	Bangalore
58	Ashwin Choksi	68	Mumbai
59	K. Dinesh	57	Bangalore
60	Abhay Vakil	61	Mumbai
61	Baba Kalyani	62	Pune
62	S.D. Shibulal	56	Bangalore
63	Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw	58	Bangalore
64	Benu Gopal Bangur	80	Kolkata
65	Mofatraj Munot	67	Mumbai
66	Devendra Kumar Jain	82	Delhi
67	Shobhana Bhartia	54	Delhi
68	Anand Mahindra	56	Mumbai
69	Gracias Saldanha	73	Mumbai
70	Hemendra Kothari	65	Mumbai
71	Ramesh Chandra	72	Delhi
72	Sanjiv Goenka	50	Kolkata
73	Analjit Singh	57	Delhi
74	Tulsi Tanti	53	Pune
75	Harsh Goenka	53	Mumbai
76	Radhe Shyam Agarwal	65	Kolkata
76	Radhe Shyam Goenka	64	Kolkata
78	Virendra Mhaiskar	40	Mumbai
79	Anu Aga	69	Pune
80	Habil Khorakiwala	69	Mumbai
81	T.T. Jagannathan	63	Bangalore
82	Keshub Mahindra	88	Mumbai
83	Anand Jain	54	Mumbai
84	V.G. Siddhartha	52	Bangalore
85	Ramesh Agarwal	66	Bhopal
86	Karsanbhai Patel	67	Ahmedabad
87	Irfan Razack	58	Bangalore
88	Vivek Chaand Sehgal	55	Delhi
89	Prathap Reddy	79	Chennai
90	Shishir Bajaj	63	Mumbai
91	L. Madhusudan Rao	45	Delhi
92	Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi	82	Delhi
93	Kishore Biyani	50	Mumbai
94	Balkrishan Goenka	45	Mumbai
95	B.G. Raghupathy	58	Chennai
96	Naresh Goyal	62	Mumbai/London
97	Atul Ruia	40	Mumbai
98	Qimat Rai Gupta	74	New Delhi
99	Bhadresh Shah	60	Ahmedabad
100	G.V. Krishna Reddy	74	Hyderabad

The list of the 100 Richest Indians in 2009 can be found at "100 Richest Indians - 2009"

The data and the list of 100 Richest Indians is courtsey "Forbes" and can be found at "India's Richest"

Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com

Highest growth in "Air travelers" at Patna Airport

I like those news that give an indication of changes in Bihar. Therefore the news that for the 2nd year straight, Patna airport has witnessed the highest growth in air passengers traffic passing through the Patna airport, makes  me feel happy.

So for the year 2010-11, Patna airport again emerged No. 1 amongst 46 airports in the country in terms of the increase in the number of domestic aircraft movements and the number of passengers passing through it. Patna airport overtook the airports in the following cities in terms of total number of domestic passengers taking domestic flights in 2010-11

1. Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar)
2. Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)
3. Vadodra (Gujarat)
4. Raipur (Chattisgarh)
5. Agartala (Tripura)
6. Chandigarh (Chandigarh)
7. Madurai (Tamil Nadu)

The overall passengers travelling in and out of Patna by air has been growing increasingly over the last few years even though the Patna Airport is not considered very safe. The number of passengers that have traveled over the past few years and the percentage growth is listed below:

Year	No of Passengers handled	Percentage change over last year
2010-11	8.38 Lakhs	51.8%
2009-10	5.52 Lakhs	60.5%
2008-09	3.44 Lakhs
2004-05	1.76 Lakhs

The growth from the year 2004-05 when Nitish Kumar's government took over, until last year has been an astounding 376%.   Infact we see a growth month by month as I had captured in one of my posts in 2009 - "Flights of Prosperity"

As per data that is available for 2009-10, Amritsar airport was the next airport with the highest growth (51.8%)  in domestic passengers followed by Dibrugarh (47.4%).

Thus the growth in air passengers is a sign of increasing prosperity and improved law and order where more and more people are willing to travel and that to travel by air.

This and more details can be found in the India Today article "Patna airport emerges on top in passenger traffic growth"


Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com

Happy Holi

I wish everyone a Very Very Happy Holi.


Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com

First "Open Jail" to start functioning in Bihar

Final touches are being given to the first "Open Jail" in Bihar where convicted prisoners will be able to live with their families in an atmosphere conducive to the development of their skills and talents. The prisoners would not only be allowed to work inside the jail premises but also go to a workplace within a five-kilometer radius. Besides this they will also be allowed to open a savings account in the nearest bank or post office for depositing their income.

The "Open Jail" is coming up over 42 acres of land in Buxar and the construction will complete by the end of March 2012 and about 100 inmates can start living in by May 2012. The facility will have 13 double-storey apartments with two-room flats on each floor where the inmates will stay, a community hall and a park inside the premises. There will also be a workshop that will impart vocational training to the inmates.

The children of the inmates would get free education as per the norms of the Right to Education Act.

The criteria for inmates selection are as follows

1. Mostly convicts serving life terms across the state
2. And convicts who have a few years of imprisonment left
3. And have shown good character during the time they have been in the Jail.

This would be the country's 33rd open jail, the first such was set up in Rajasthan in 1963.

I think its a good step in rehabilitating the prisoners so that they can do better in life after getting out of the prison and can adjust to the environment without having to go back to criminal ways. I only hope that this doesn't become an opportunity for criminal politicians, who are serving sentences , to get more freedom than they deserve.

This and more details can be found in the IBN news article "Soon, Bihar to get its first 'open jail'"

Largest Hindu Temple being planned in Bihar

I did not know until today that the largest Hindu temple in the world is at Angkor Wat in Combodia and was built in the 12th century by the Cambodian King Suryavarman (1141-1152 AD). Now the same temple is being replicated in Vaishali , albeit that it would bigger than the one in Cambodia.

The temple is being built by the Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust (BMMT) at a cost of Rs. 100 crores and it will be a 5-storied 222-feet tall temple that will come over 15 acres at a place near Ismailpur village on Hajipur-Bidupur road. It will take about 10 years to complete.

This temple should become a good tourist attraction and add to the tourism growth in Bihar.

More details about the upcoming temple can be found in the Times of India article "World's largest Hindu temple to come up in Bihar"

Angkor Wat

I did some research about the Angkor Wat temple and here is what I found:

From Wikipedia:

Angkor Wat (Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត) is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated to the Supreme God Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.

Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early South Indian Hindu architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of thedevas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.

Plan to develop the Shaktipeeth Tourist circuit

The State Government of Bihar plans to develop a new Shaktipeeth tourist circuit in Bihar which will cover all the Shaktipeeth temples in Bihar. The plan is to organize conducted luxury bus tours  and the tour would include the Shaktipeeth temples at Thawe (Gopalganj), Ugra Tara Temple (Saharsa) and also West Bengal's Tarapeeth Temple.

More details can  be found in the Times of India article Govt to develop Shaktipeeth circuit in state

Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com

Bihar Progress Report - 2011

Finally I was able to lay my hands on the Bihar Progress Report for 2011.  Was trying to get this from the last 3 months now.

Some of the key things that caught my attention were

1. Out of School students - The percentage of students who are not attending school dropped from 12% to 3.5%.
2. Bihar saw the largest increase in literacy rate across India in the last one decade. The literacy rate in general increased by 16.82% whereas the female literacy rate increased by 20.21%
3. 4712.12 KMs of road were constructed between Nov 2010 and Oct 2011 at a cost of Rs. 3478.81 Crores.
4. Out of 15 micro hydro power stations (8MW) sanctioned, 7 are generating power and 8 remaining power stations will commence generation shortly.
5. 30,000 elementary school teachers appointed
6. 1,384 Ayush doctors appointed on contract at additional PHCs.
7. 464 senior resident doctors appopinted
8. 373 specialists doctors appointed.
9. 154 teachers appointed in engineering colleges and state polytechnics.
10. Bihar Right to Public Service Act 2011 implemented
11. Tax revenues in the state was Rs. 9,869.85 Crores
12. Process initiated to upgrade all PHCs (Primary Health Centers) to 30 bedded health centers.
13. 4 crore people got treatment at government health facilities in 2010-11. 24 lakh people were admitted to these government health facilities in this year as compared to 7.98 lakh patients in 2007-08.
14. 5.16 lakh family planning operations were carried out as compared to 1 lakh in 2005.

 The copy of the report that I have got is a smaller version 4" x 6" report in the form of 88 image files. The image files were with small font and will be difficult for many  people to read clearly. However, I have compiled them into a PDF format so that atleast people will be able to read the report as one document.  This report is available at "Bihar Progress Report - 2011".

Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com

Bihar Economic Survey 2011-12

Bihar's economy continued to exhibit a high growth rate in 2010-11 and grew at a rate of 14.8% during 2010-11. Thus Bihar's economy has grown at an annual rate of 11.36% between 2004-05 and 2010-11. As with previous years, the economy has grown primarily due high public investment.

Some of the salient highlights from the Economic Survey 2011-12 are as follows

1. Per Capita Income 
1. Bihar's Per Capita Income in 2009-10 was Rs. 16,119 as compared to Rs. 10,055 in 2006-07. 
2. However it is much below the country average of Rs. 46,492 and continues to be at the bottom of the rankings of states with respect to Per Capita Income.
3. In 2006-07 Bihar's Per Capita Income was 32.2% of the all India average (Rs. 31,198) whereas today it has slightly increased to 34.7%
2. Growth Sectors - During the period 2004-05 to 2010-11, the sectors that reported a growth rate of more than 15 percent are 
1. Registered manufacturing - 23.30 %
2. Construction - 19.61 %
3. Communications - 27.23 %
4. Trade, hotels and restaurant - 20.22 %
3. Population Density - The minimum population density of Bihar is 1102 persons living per sq. km.
4. 90% of the people in Bihar live in Villages.

In my opinion, the continued stride of growth and high economic growth is good and has to be sustained for Bihar and Biharis in general to prosper. The Economic Survey report can be found at "Bihar Economic Surveys"

Radio for education

Bihar government is thinking of using the radio to reach out to the poor people of Bihar and educating them about the importance of literacy, sanitation and kicking bad habits like consuming alcohol and tobacco.

At the outset it is a good media option as many of the people hear radios in Bihar. However, will they listen to someone talking rather than listen to someone singing. The programs have to be made interesting enough for the people to listen to them and I am sure the people working on this plan will figure out a way to use the tool effectively. And even if it has some impact on the people , then the effort will be worth it.

Finally, this shows that more and more people are thinking of ways to improve the situation in Bihar in some way or the other and this is definitely good news.

More details about this news can be read in The Economic Times article "Reaching out to Bihar's poorest, via radio"


Prashant
progressivebihar.blogspot.com

An interesting take on Nitish and Bihar

I came across an interesting article in Times of India which is a take on Nitish Kumar and Bihar in a way. Its a long read and most of us know about the things discussed, but is a good read if someone has the time.

The last paragraph is interesting. Shaibal Gupta of ADRI has said that if Bihar continues to grow at double digits every year, it will take 18 years for Bihar to catch up with Maharashtra.

The article can be read at "From darkest India, an enlightened leader"

Bihar's plan outlay - 28,000 Crores

Bihar's plan outlay has been enhanced from R. 24,000 Crores to Rs. 28,000 Crores. Many will be surprised to hear that the plan outlay has grown more than 10 times in the last 11 years. The plan outlay for Bihar in 2001 was Rs. 2,644 Crores.

More details can be found in the Zee News article Bihar's plan size to be hiked to Rs 28,000 crore

Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com

1980 MW Thermal Power Plant @ Shivanpur in Aurangabad.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone for a 1980 MW capacity Thermal Plant at Shivanpur in Aurangabad on the 28th of January 2012. The power plant is being constructed by Nabinagar Power Generating Company Pvt. Ltd , a joint venture between NTPC and Bihar State Electricity Board. Salient features of this power plant are:

1. The power plan is being contructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 12,965 crores.
2. It will have 3 units of 660MW each in the first phase.
3. Two more units of 660MW each will be constructed in the subsequent phases.
4. The first phase is likely to be commissioned by 2015.
5. Total land required for the project is 2,833 acres out of which 1,872 acres is private land.
6. Farmers whose land has been acquired will get a compensation at the rate of Rs. 21 lakh per acre.
7. Bihar will get 70% of the power generated by this power plant.

I think its a good step toward improving the electricity situation in Bihar and attracting more industries. I hope that the power plant doesn't face any delays and hickups that we are used to seeing in such large projects. We should also look at kick starting more power projects that can be completed faster so that Bihar can quickly fulfill the shortfall of electricity that it currently faces.

This Power project was first approved in early 2010 and the central government had also approved coal linkages in March 2010 (Coal linkage for two 660Mega Watts plants). However it has taken almost 2 years after clearing the coal linkages to move ahead on this project. The main hurdles on the way was getting a central government approval to use the water from Ganga for the power plant and the second hurdle was land acquisition.

Overall a good step in the right direction. More details about the Thermal power plant can be found in the Times of India article - Bihar big leap towards ‘power’

Small but steady steps for a Green Revolution in Bihar

It is not the state government alone that can usher in prosperity and development within the state. Once the government has laid the foundation of a better administration and sense of security, many people can contribute in the state's growth. And some of the steps taken by farmers signal signs of a green revolution that could come to Bihar. With Bihar being  predominantly an agricultural economy , it would be good to have a fresh green revolution in Bihar.

Some of the recent achievements in the agricultural space that I have come across and  which will make many people happy are

1. Sumant Kumar of Nalanda district created a new world record in paddy cultivation  . He had a bumper yield of 224 quintal per hectare which was enough to break the world record set by a Chinese farm scientist Yuan Longping. Sumant's four other friends , Krishna Kumar, Nitish Kumar, Ramanand Singh and Sanjay Kumar also had extraordinary produce. They used an unconventional way of paddy plantation called "System of Rice Intensification (SRI)"
2. Jyoti Manjhi from Gaya had first popularised this technique of SRI in Bihar by cultivating paddy on barren land.
3. Manoj Kumar of Muzaffarpur motivated farmers in and around his village Mustafaganj to embrace organic farming and use vermi-compost on a large scale. 
4. Villagers in Mustafaganj also have started planting 10 saplings of Semel (silk cotton trees) to meet the expenses of the wedding of their daughters in future.
5. Similarly in Dharhara village of Bhagalpur, villagers have for long, been planting fruit trees on the birth of every girl.
6. Sudhanshu Kumar from Samastipur was awarded the "Best Mango Grower Award" last year
7. Samriddhii - that aims to redesign the Vegetable supply chain in Bihar specially for the marginalized vegetable and fruit grower farmers of Bihar

For an all round development of Bihar, we need progress in all areas and agriculture is one area that will have the impact on majority of the people. Thus the above achievements definitely are something that will make all of us proud.

Sources for the above data

India Today article - Grassroots Heroes Lead Bihar's Rural Revolution

Times of India article - Bihar farmer gets Best Mango Grower award

IIM Indore article - Samriddhii - Redesigning the Vegetable Supply Chain in Bihar

Prashant

www.progressivebihar.com

More 5 star hotels in Bihar

A sign of prosperity is that people have more money , are willing to spend more money and are not scared by the law and order situation to spend money. And this is definitely a case when one sees applications for starting 5 star hotels in Bihar. In the recent times there have been applications for atleast 6 Five Star Hotels in Bihar that have got approved.

Sr. No.	Location	Proposed Infrastructure	Company
1	Patna	Five Star Hotel	M/s Shirti Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.
2	Patna	Five Star Hotel	M/s Amit Metaliks Ltd
3	Exhibition Road, Patna	Five Star Hotel	M/s Kumar Infratrade Enterprises Pvt. Ltd
4	Patliputra, Patna	Five Star Hotel cum shopping complex and IT Park	M/s Recon.
5	Budh Marg, Patna	Five Star Hotel	M/s Meridian Budha Hotels
6	Patliputra, Patna	Five Star Hotel	M/s MV Hotels & Projects Pvt. Ltd

 Similarly there are projects for building resorts primarily around Bodh Gaya.

Sr. No.	Location	Proposed Infrastructure	Company
1	Bodh Gaya	International Tourist Resort & Golf Course	M/s Shirti Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.
2	Bodh Gaya	Resort	M/s P & M Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd
3	Patna	Resort, Water Park and Education Development	M/s Bajaj Buildcon Pvt. Ltd.
4	Bodh Gaya	Three Star Hotel cum Resort	M/s Yatri Bihar Hospitality Pvt. Ltd.

Besides this there are other smaller projects for Hotels, Restaurants, etc that are being actively considered by the administration or have already been approved.


Thus, all this signals a faith in the government and lesser scare from Politicians / Goons, etc. This is again a great news because it has the potential to improve the image that many Indians still have about Bihar.


These source of these projects are the projects clearance list on the Government of Bihar website.