Gates back as world's richest; Mukesh Ambani wealthiest Indian

With a fortune of USD 40 billion, software czar Bill Gates has regained his position as the world's wealthiest from his friend and legendary investor Warren Buffett, even as the economic crisis wiped off USD two trillion from the wealth of billionaires across the world.

Gates, who himself lost USD 18 billion in the past one year, is followed by Buffett (USD 37 billion) at the second and Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim (USD 35 billion) at the third position as per the World's Billionaires list released by the US magazine Forbes.

Buffett was ranked as the richest person in the world in last year's list, followed by Carlos Slim and Gates at second and third positions respectively. There are 793 billionaires in the world now, down about 30 per cent from 1,125 a year ago, while collectively they have become poorer from USD 4.4 trillion to USD 2.4 trillion.

There are just two Indians in the list of top 10 richest persons across the world, down from four last year. Indian petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani has been ranked as the richest among all the Indians with a net worth of USD 19.5 billion, followed by NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (19.3 billion dollars).

In the global list, Ambani is ranked seventh (down from fifth last year) and Mittal is at eighth position (fourth in 2008).

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Others in the top 10 include software firm Oracle's chief Lawrence Ellison (4th; USD 22.5 billion), Sweden's Ingvar Kamprad (5th; USD 22 billion), Germany's Karl Albrecht (6th; USD 21.5 billion), Germany's Theo Albrecht (9th; USD 18.8 billion) and Spain's Amancio Ortega (10th; USD 18.3 billion).

The previous year's list also included Anil Ambani at the sixth position (down to 34th this year) and realty baron K P Singh at the eighth position (down to 98 in this year's list). Overall, the Indians' presence on the list has shrunk to half from 53 last year to 24 in the latest list, Forbes said.

The richest people in the world have also endured a financial disaster over the past year in a world that has become a wealth wasteland. It is the first time since 2003 that the world has had a net loss in the number of billionaires and their average net worth fell 23 per cent to USD 3 billion.