A comparison between the wealthiest individuals in Pakistan and India would not be fair on paper because India’s economy is much larger and more stable than that of Pakistan. However, gaining more knowledge about these billionaires and how they came to acquire their wealth is imperative. The list of the richest people in Pakistan includes billionaire Shahid Khan, with the highest net worth of $13.3 billion, Sir Anwar Pervez, and Sadruddin Hashwani. Among the wealthiest Indians are Mukesh Ambani, who has a net worth of $117.4 billion, Gautam Adani, and Savitri Jindal.
The Top 3 Richest People in Pakistan
Shahid Khan
Shahid Khan was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 with no more than $500 in his pocket. Today, he is the richest man of Pakistan and is the owner of auto parts supplier Flex-N-Gate. He also owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
He worked nights as a dishwasher while studying as an engineering student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During this time, he also started working at a small manufacturing company, Flex-N-Gate, which he now owns. He worked there as an engineering manager and then left in 1978, taking a loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA) to start a company called Bumper Works. He grew his business from there, then bought Flex-N-Gate and began working with Japanese manufacturers who would send cars to the US without bumpers. These need to be installed before they hit the market.
Even though he is of Pakistani descent, Khan considers himself an American. He got his American citizenship 20 years ago, married an American citizen, and raised a family. As for his political involvement, he voted for Trump when he became president and donated $1 million to his inaugural committee in 2016. However, he also spoke against Trump’s proposal of a travel ban for seven Muslim countries. He stood in support of his team when Trump went after the NFL players who kneeled before the national anthem.
Sir Anwar Pervez
Sir Anwar Pervez owns Bestway Group, the UK’s 10th largest privately owned business, second largest wholesale cash and carry operator, and third-largest retail pharmacy. His net worth is $4.72 billion. His father was a subsistence wheat farmer, and in 1956, Pervez left for the UK from his village, Thatti. He worked there as a phone operator for the state-owned telecommunications company. He then established his first convenience store, Kashmir, in Earl’s Court, London. Since then, he has settled in the UK.
He believes he began the trend of late-night working hours for stores. In the early 1970s, he owned up to 10 convenience stores, and in 1976, Sir Pervez established Bestway Wholesale. In the 1990s, several overseas investments were made, leading to Bestway acquiring PakPearl Rice Mill in Pakistan. The late Queen Elizabeth II also bestowed him with the Officer of the Most Excellent Order award, earning him respect for his hard work.
Anwar kept expanding, and Bestway Cement was founded in 1995. Bestway Charitable Foundation in Pakistan was founded in 1997, as the owners wished to give back to the country. More expansion was made in Pakistan in 2002, a controlling stake was purchased in United Bank, which was at the time Pakistan’s 4th largest bank. Since then, the company has experienced immense expansion in different segments, but in 2004, Sir Pervez took the role of the Chairman and stepped down from the role of running the day-to-day operations.
Sadruddin Hashwani
Mr. Hashwani is the founder and chairman of Hashoo Group and has a net worth of $4.1 billion. He belongs to an industrialist family from Karachi.
In 1960, along with his brother, he began working as a trader, and before nationalization in the 1970s, the Hashwanis were known as the “Cotton Kings of Pakistan.” After that, he started venturing into the hotel industry and opened a Holiday Inn in Islamabad, now known as The Marriot Hotel.
In 1981, the Marriot Hotel was opened in Karachi. In 1985, Mr. Hashwani secured a successful bid for the majority shares of Pakistan Services Limited, which owned four Inter-Continental hotels in Pakistan, now famously known as Pear Continental Hotels. Hashwani has also been involved in politics or better—a political rivalry with Asif Ali Zardari. In 2014, Hashwani authored a book titled “Truth Always Prevails” and accused Zardari of targeting him. In 2015, Zardari filed a Rs. 2 million defamation suit against him. Apart from this, Hashwani has no political involvement or rivalry. He now owns the 5 most prestigious hotels in Pakistan, the Pearl Continental Hotels, and is settled in Pakistan.
The Top 3 Richest People in India
Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani has a net worth of $117.4 billion and runs the Reliance Industries. Reliance Industries operates in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, retail, and financial services.
Reliance Industries was created by Mukhesh Ambani’s father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966. In 2002, Mukesh and his brother, Anil Ambani, after his father’s death, divided the empire their father had created among themselves. They are famously known for their telecom division—Reliance Telecom, and broadband service Jio, which has over 470 million subscribers. His eldest son, Akash, is the head of Jio; his youngest son, Anant, is in the energy business; and his daughter, Isha, heads retail and financial services. Mukesh Ambani is also the owner of the Mumbai Indians cricket team, IPL. They own assets outside India as well, as they purchased the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York for $98 million. They also have significant media ownership.
The Ambani family has ties to Narendra Modi, who was in attendance at Anant Ambani’s wedding, which took place in July 2024. Modi belongs to Gujrat, similar to the Ambanis; hence, they have praised him publicly. Before 2019, a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, NEWJ helped push Modi’s party, BJP’s agenda, on Indian social media before the 2019 parliamentary elections. This proves that the Ambani family is not only in the public limelight but also has political alliances.
Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani is India’s second richest man, with a net worth of $83.2 billion. He is the chairman of the Adani Group, which is functional in ports, airports, green energy, and power generation.
In 1979, the Group began trading diamonds, and in 1983, they began importing chemicals. Over the years, Adani took advantage of his involvement with public policy, and his relationship with the state authority of Gujrat grew deeper in the early 2000s. When the Chief Minister of Gujrat, Narendra Modi, was involved in controversy, Adani kept investing in Gujrat despite India’s most powerful trade association, the Confederation of Indian Industry, threatening to disinvest from Gujrat.
The Adani group was established in 1988 and traded commodities, but with the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it expanded through acquisitions. Adani is India’s biggest airport operator. He also controls the Mundra Port (India’s largest port) in his home state, Gujrat. For a brief period, he was India’s richest man in 2022, but then he lost tens of billions of dollars when an activist firm accused the Adani Group of fraud. His association with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is apparent, and he openly refers to his business strategy motivated by the idea of nation-building.
Savitri Jindal
Savitri Jindal has a net worth of $39.3 billion. She is the chairperson of the Jindal Group which was founded by her late husband, Om Prakash Jindal, who passed away in 2005.
The group works with steel, power, and infrastructure; her four children lead them individually. In the last six months of 2023, the shares of Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Energy, increased by 50%.
She has also served as Haryana’s minister in the Bhupindar Singh Hooda-led Congress Government. She is more commonly known for her political involvement, as she has now joined the BJP.
Conclusion
Most of these billionaires have a rags-to-riches story, but interestingly, the top two richest personalities in Pakistan have settled their family businesses abroad. Their expansion and growth were not in Pakistan. The Indian billionaires, on the other hand, have expanded in India. Mukesh Ambani in particular has made connections globally. Political ties to parties in power are also a trend that can be seen in Indian billionaires.
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Zara Zahid Khan is a law student at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. She is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about legal and political issues.