The second edition of the Fortune India-Waterfield Advisors' study of India's richest — a definitive listing of the country's dollar billionaires — shows that the elite club is now equivalent to 25.39% of India's FY23 GDP of ₹273 lakh crore ($3.4 trillion). The collective wealth of India's uber rich swelled from ₹66.35 lakh crore ($832 billion) in 2022 to ₹69.30 lakh crore ($843 billion) this year, even as the club of billionaires expanded from 142 to 157. India's prosperity engine is not just running — it's roaring.

What's pertinent to note is that India's legacy business houses, the Tatas, the Bajajs, the Birlas, and the Burmans, stand tall in a listing peppered with first- and second-gen entrepreneurs. Barring the Mistry family whose wealth is largely tied in the privately held Tata Sons, the Godrej clan (₹1.57 lakh crore), the Bajaj family (₹1.42 lakh crore), Kumar Mangalam Birla (₹1.42 lakh crore) and the Burmans (₹82,352 crore) continue to rank among the 20 top richest Indians.

Soumya Rajan, founder and CEO, Waterfield Advisors, whose firm is wealth advisor to over 200 business families, believes it is not without reason. "What has been unique about family businesses in India is that a lot many have managed to prove their resilience and adapt with the times. If the early era was about professionalising the management, today, the families are ensuring that the legacy is preserved down the generations by creating the right governance structures to prevent conflicts."