Two leading millionaires were dismissive of the whole exercise. "These lists have become an annual tamasha," a leading businessman on the list told India Abroad News Service. "They can be wildly off the mark."

A case is Reuben Singh, singled out for praise at an Asian dinner by the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after walking high into the list earlier. Now, it seems from the list that he's not a millionaire at all, with not a place even towards the bottom of the list. Reuben Singh had to sell off his chain stores `Miss Attitude' in what was more a distress sale. The company was shown to have none of the profits and turnover estimated earlier. That sale "raised doubts about his valuation," the rich list commissioned by the newspaper Eastern Eye now admits.

The Hinduja brothers top the list at the estimated 1.3 billion pounds (Rs. 88.4 billion). The heart of the family's interest is said in the list tobe its share in Ashok Leyland in India. The report quotes "sources" as saying that the brothers have "declined a $1 billion offer from a US volume car manufacturer anxious to gain a foothold in the Indian market." It does not specify if this was an offer for their stake in Ashok Leyland.

It puts Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, who owns steel giant Ispat International, at the number two position at 1.2 billion pounds from the top position of two billion pounds last year. This change comes primarily because his share prices have taken a knocking, the list report says, from a launch price of $27 dollars a share at one point last year "to about $7." But the price fell to its lowest of less than $5 a share. "It seems the report is incorrect even on something as simple as to verify as this," the millionaire businessman told IANS.

According to media estimates in the US, the loss represented by the fall in share prices is between two to three billion dollars. Ispat was valued at $800 million and "his (Mittal's) privatesteel interests add perhaps another $530 million," the report says. But staff at Ispat says these figures do not take into account any of the complexities of investments and the relationship between Ispat and the other holdings of Mittal's LNM group.

The list places third Subhash Chandra of Zee TV, whose business is really in India though he has a presence in Britain. Manubhai Madhvani is placed eighth with 150 million pounds, though his business lies mainly in Uganda.

Swraj Paul is fourth with an estimated 325 million pounds, pulled down from 500 million last year. That is a figure that "Paul now reckons," according to the report. The valuation is said to be underpinned by a valuation of 24 million pounds profit on 542 million pounds of sales in 1997. The lower valuation comes from "a difficult year for the steel industry."

The Thakrar family in retailing was valued at 100 million pounds after 13 million pounds last year. There had been a "major under valuation" last year, according to the report.Recruitment consultant James Caan is valued at 61 million pounds this year after 3.4 million pounds last year which the report says was "another serious under valuation last year."

The report acknowledges it is difficult to value private companies. It says, "We measure only assets we can identify." But it goes on to say that much wealth is kept in Jersey or other tax havens. "We have uniformly assumed these to be part of the controlling family stake and valued the family accordingly," the report says. But it makes no suggestion how it arrived at estimates of this wealth in tax havens. The report says at the beginning, however, that "We apologise in advance to those who may not agree with our assessment of their wealth."

-- India Abroad News Service