Lakshmi Mittal loses about Rs 1,72,863.41 cr in a year

LONDON: NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who is one of the wealthiest in the world, lost as much as 23.5 billion pounds (about Rs 1,72,863.409 crore) in the last one year owing to the current global recession.

A media report quoting the 'Sunday Times Rich List', which is to be published on Sunday, has reported that Mittal, the richest man in the UK, has seen his wealth plunging to 9.5 billion pounds from 33 billion pounds last year.

Also quoting the daily, the report stated that the current estimates suggest that the 1,000 wealthiest people in the country have seen over half of their cumulative wealth wiped out by the recession, from 412 billion pounds in 2008 to around 200 billion pounds today.

Besides Mittal, the other major loses were Romans Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, down from 15 billion pounds to 9.6 billion pounds, Charles Dunstone, the Carphone Warehouse founder, whose 904 million pounds stake in the firm is now worth around a third of that and Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Airlines boss, whose 2.7 billion pounds fortune has been cut in half.



Singer Sir Elton John is also among those hit by recession, with his fortune down from 238 million pounds to 175 million pounds. Even Sir Paul McCartney, one of the richest men in showbitz, saw 60 million pounds wiped off his assets thanks to falling property and share values, while Robbie Williams is worth 80 million pounds, compared with 125 million pounds a year ago.