Outlook Business Desk
In FY25, top Indian billionaires including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Anil Agarwal and Shiv Nadar earned over ₹40,000 crore in dividends, driven by strong corporate earnings and generous pay-out policies across technology, telecom, metal and pharma sectors.
Shiv Nadar, founder of HCLTech, received ₹9,902 crore in dividends in FY25—highest among Indian promoters. HCL declared ₹16,290 crore total dividend (₹60/share). With a 60.81% stake, the Nadar family gained the most. At 80, Nadar—worth $37.3 billion—is India’s 3rd richest and ranks 50th globally on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Anil Agarwal, founder and chairman of Vedanta Resources, earned ₹9,591 crore in dividends from Vedanta Limited in FY25. The company declared a total dividend of ₹17,009 crore. With a 56.38% stake held via unlisted entities, the Agarwal family emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Azim Premji, founder of Wipro, earned ₹4,570 crore in dividends in FY25. With a 72.66% family stake, he benefited from the company’s ₹6/share payout during the fiscal year.
Dr Azad Moopen, founder and chairman of Aster DM Healthcare, earned ₹2,469 crore in dividends in FY25. With a 41.89% stake and a dividend of ₹118 per share, Aster stood out among India’s top healthcare dividend payers.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries (RIL), earned ₹3,655 crore from dividends in FY25. The Ambani family, which holds a 50.11% stake in the conglomerate, benefited from a ₹5.50/share payout on a total dividend of ₹7,443 crore.
Infosys co-founders Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani, Srinivasan Desikan Shibulal, Senapathy Gopalakrishnan (popularly known as Kris Gopalakrishnan) and Kusuma Dinesh earned ₹2,331 crore in dividends. They hold a 14.6% stake in Infosys, which paid ₹17,854 crore in total at ₹43 per share in FY25.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder of Bharti Airtel, earned ₹2,357 crore as the company paid ₹16/share. Sun Pharma founder Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi got ₹2,091 crore, based on a 54.48% stake from a ₹3,839 crore payout.
The Bajaj family—including Shekhar, Madhur, Niraj, Shishir, Kushagra, Rajiv and Sanjiv Bajaj—earned ₹1,645 crore in dividends in FY25. Bajaj Auto paid ₹210/share, with other firms like Finserv and Mukand adding to the total.
Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the Adani Group, and his family earned ₹1,460 crore in FY25 dividends. ₹996 crore came from Adani Ports, the rest from Ambuja Cements, Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas and ACC (Associated Cement Companies).