In the list brought out in 1996, the Birla family topped the list of richest Indians. With a networth of $2,100 million, the Birla empire was ahead of the other two Indians chosen for the esteemed list that year. In the second position was the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal with $1,500-million networth. Ambanis, the textiles major, stood third in 1996 at $1,100-million networth. The Indian tally in the 1996 Forbes list stood at three with an accumulated networth of $4,700 million.

The following year -- 1997 -- the Indian tally grew to seven, with the accumulated networth at $6,650 million. The ranking was like this. The NRI steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was at the top with a networth of $1,900million, thereby overtaking the Birlas. In the second spot, there was an interesting tie between the Ambanis, Kumar Mangalam Birla and Adi Godrej -- each one with a networth of $1,200 million. The next in the list was $700-million-worth Rahul Bajaj. The tractors king Keshub Mahindra also belonged to the privileged club at a networth of $350 million. Ratan Tata just about squeezed in with a relatively humble networth of $100 million.In 1998, Lakshmi Mittal continued to occupy the top slot with a vengeance. Mittal's networth had grown to $3,500 million by now. And the gap between the first and the second spot had widened quite a bit. At number two were the Ambanis with $1,500-million networth. Rahul Bajaj's networth had fallen from the previous year to $650, but he still belonged to the rich club as a distant third in the Indian list. Keshub Mahindra was fourth with a networth of $250 million. In all, four Indians figured in the 1998 Forbes list with an accumulated wealth of $5,900 million. The notableabsentees from the list were Kumar Mangalam Birla and Adi Godrej.

This year's list came as a surprise to most Indians. Forbes class of 99 had a new topper in the India section. In fact he hadn't even figured in the list ever before. Azim Premji, CEO of Wipro, had ousted Lakshmi Mittal from the number one position. Premji's wealth has been estimated at $2,800 million this year. The number one upset had to happen because Mittal's networth had fallen from $3,500 million in 1998 to $1,900 in 1999. The recession in the steel industry was showing like crazy in his networth. On the other hand, Premji's rise to prominence was to some extent due to overall upbeat status of information technology.

Premji was not the only pride for the Indian IT industry in the Forbes list. The industry had more to cheer this year. Shiv Nadar of HCL had claimed the number three position with a networth of $1,200 million. But Nadar had to concede a tie at number three with the Ambanis. The next in the list was Kumar Managalam Birlawith a networth billing of $1,100 million. So, after his absence from the list for one year, Birla staged a comeback. Finally, there's a tie again at the next spot between S P Hinduja and Adi Godrej with networth of $1,000 million each. Adi Godrej too had fought back into the list after a gap of one year. The Indian tally this year was not bad with seven figuring in the Forbes list. The accumulated wealth of these seven stood at $10,200 million.