There are six newcomers on this year's list, with half of them from the booming chemicals sector. They include Ashok Boob (No. 93, USD 2.3 billion) whose Clean Science and Technology listed in July; Deepak Mehta (No. 97, USD 2.05 billion) of Deepak Nitrite and Yogesh Kothari (No. 100, USD 1.94 billion) of Alkyl Amines Chemicals. Arvind Lal (No. 87, USD 2.55 billion), the executive chairman of diagnostics chain Dr Lal PathLabs, also debuted on the list after a pandemic-induced surge in testing caused shares of his company to double in the past year.

The country's IPO rush returned property magnate and politician Mangal Prabhat Lodha (No. 42, USD 4.5 billion) to the ranks, following the April listing of his Macrotech Developers. Among the four other returnees is Prathap Reddy (No. 88, USD 2.53 billion), whose listed hospital chain Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has been testing and treating Covid-19 patients. Eleven listees from last year dropped off, given the increased cut-off for gaining entry to this year's list. The minimum amount required to make this year's list was USD 1.94 billion, up from USD 1.33 billion last year.

Naazneen Karmali, Asia Wealth Editor and India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: "This year's list reflects India's resilience and can-do spirit even as Covid-19 extracted a heavy toll on both lives and livelihoods. Hopes of a V-shaped recovery fuelled a stock market rally that propelled the fortunes of India's wealthiest to new heights. With the minimum net worth to make the ranks approaching USD 2 billion, the top 100 club is getting more exclusive."