Daybreak - What's really driving India's obsession with ranking the richest?

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

Hurun India began curating rich lists a decade ago. Now, it has moved up ahead of ranking giants like Bloomberg and Forbes with 17 lists so far. It has a Global 500 list, similar to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. In fact, at this point, it's safe to say that it has replaced Forbes as the most trusted choice for bankers and wealth managers.  Hurun has managed to turn showing it off into a cultural trend despite the fact that wealth is often wrapped in secrecy in a country like India. So what’s really driving India’s obsession with ranking the richest? Hurun India has grown way beyond its original rich lists, creating rankings for just about everything you can think of—from self-made entrepreneurs to top art collectors. They even track billionaires by zodiac signs. Today we look at Hurun India beyond just these lists— a closer look at the behind the scenes relationship it has with wealth-management firms, and how it keeps the ultra-rich happy.*This episode was previously published on November 18, 2024Daybreak is now on WhatsApp at [phone]. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode!Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcast, you've probably heard me. My interruptions, my analogies and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Raman Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret source stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get alert, as soon as we release our first video. episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcast or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. If you're an Indian and you are loaded, and I'm not talking normal rich, I'm talking top-tier rich. There is a good chance that you are on Hurin India's radar.

The firm released its 24 philanthropic. list that highlighted how some of India's wealthiest, the likes of Shiv Nadar, Mukeshimbani and Nikhil Kamit were donating money. This year's list is particularly very encouraging. We have found about 203 entrants who've cumulatively donated almost rupees 9,000 crores in the last financial year. One very interesting aspect of this year's list is the inclusion of two women philanthropists in the top 10. So Smidha Bakshi of Main 3 and also Rohani Nilakhani, also features in the top 10. That was Anas Rehman Janad, the managing director and chief researcher of Huron India,

talking about the philanthropy list. You see, this list actually happens to be just one of many. Huron has moved up ahead of ranking giants like Bloomberg and Forbes with 17 lists so far. It has a global 500 list, which is similar to Bloomberg's billionaire index. In fact, at this point, it would be. safe to say that it has replaced Forbes as the most trusted choice for bankers and wealth managers. Huron has managed to turn showing wealth off into a cultural trend, despite the fact that money is almost wrapped in secrecy in a country like ours. So what is really driving India's

obsession with ranking the richest? The answer is that Huron doesn't just put together a list of to wealthy. It turns their journeys into stories of how fortunes are made. Over more than a decade, Hoor in India has grown way beyond its original rich lists. It started creating rankings for just about everything that you could think of. From self-made entrepreneurs to top art collectors, they even track billionaires by Zodiac science. Fun fact, Virgo's are leading the pack in India, making up nearly 10,000, percent of the country's billionaires. You see, Huran began putting together these rich lists about 10 years ago. The idea was to go where the likes of Forbes and Bloomberg had not.

Find stories of the rich beyond the top 100. Slowly, it began getting sponsorships from banks and wealth managers and grew bigger. So in today's episode, we look at Huran India beyond just these lists. A closer look at the behind-the-scenes relationship that it has with wealth management companies and how it keeps the ultra-rich in India happy. Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken. I'm your host, Nick Das Sharma, and I don't chase the new cycle. Instead, every day of the week, my colleague Rahal Philippos and I will come to you with one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. A new billionaire is created in India every five days.

So the timing is just perfect for a firm like Hurun to thrive now that curiosity about the rich is stronger than ever before. When Junet bought Huron to India, there were just two private companies which were valued at over $1 billion, Flipkart and Inmobi. Now, that number has exploded to beyond 100 and at the same. time, the benchmark Nifty 50 has gone up by five times. So, to begin with, how exactly does Huron work? You see, first it identifies industry leaders and features them in its rich list.

Junet told my colleague Noah Bubre that this process can take up to a year. Then, Huron with its financial institution partners like Access, IDFC and Kotaq Mahindra Bank invites and honors them for their contributions to their respective industries. An executive at the British banking firm Barclays, which partnered with Huron for the 24 Most Valuable Family Businesses list, told us how the list helps them get new clients and maybe people that they may not even have been able to reach or don't even know about. For example, Grohye, which is a global bathroom solutions brand,

has been sponsoring the Hurun India Real Estate Rich List since 2017 in exchange for gaining access to their network. Pratab Francis, the former chief marketing officer at Grohye, told again how at the beginning the commercial arrangement for this partnership was one crore rupees per year. But in the following years, the cost dropped to 80 lakh thanks to the strong relationship Grohye had bailed with Huron. He explained to us what Grohye got out of it. Huron not only gave them access to the real estate companies,

but also arranged one-on-one meetings with them. So basically they got to rub shoulders with the proprietors of these huge real estate developers and be seen as a premium luxury brand. One such meeting actually translated into a bunch of projects for Grohye for a real estate company. The whole process, though, of making these lists is not really an easy task, especially because very often rich people shy away from publicly talking about their money. But companies that have collaborated with Huron describe the team as hardcore audit people and consultants who go through tons and tons of data daily.

And that is the real value that banks and wealth managers find in Huron. An executive from IAFL Capital told us, and I'm quoting him, you can slice and dice the list in so many ways that you have one segment with A, B and C topics. Then you have three different companies to give you money. End quote. For more on this, stay tuned. Anas Rehman Janette says that the methodology of valuing a business is as much in art as it is a science. And that is what sets Guranaparte.

It is able to create regional lists that capture wealth creation in various cities and states, something that no other player has been able to do. To do this, Huran research relies solely on publicly available data. For unlisted companies, valuations are based on the latest funding rounds and against publicly listed counterparts using current industry multiples. Take SNAP deal, for example. While the company peaked at a valuation of $6 billion in 2016, it struggled to maintain even a $1 billion valuation by 2017 because of intense competition in the e-commerce sector. Now, as a result, the co-founder Kunal Bell, who had featured in Hur in India's rich list in 2015 and 16, was removed from the list in 2017.

Wealth managers like ASK and 361 wealth, which was earlier IIFL wealth, they also want to partner with organizations like Huron that give them access to the high net worth crowd that they are chasing. It is a win-win for both. Wealth managers not only acquire new clients, but they also get to market themselves among the rich by partnering up and sponsoring these lists. And in return, Huron monetizes its list. through sponsorship that it gets for holding these events. To sum though, Hurun's business is quite simple.

Gather data and sell it. Companies typically only by the list if they are targeting a specific demographic or trying to access potential clients that they cannot reach on their own. For instance, an insurance company that needs to target its product to a person with more than 10,000 crore rupees can filter out the target audience from who, Huron's data. So it is actually Huron's approach that stands out, especially in India where organised data is hard to come by compared to the West. Francis, who currently heads marketing for tire manufacture MRF, told us that this was the biggest problem that the two global

publications Forbes and Bloomberg had always faced. And what Junet finally told us kind of highlights this difference in approach. He says that these lists are not created just for the affluent. It is for the rest of the people who want to understand these wealth creation stories that are happening in this country. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-undi offerings.

A full subscription unlocks. daily long-form feature stories, newsletters and podcast extras. To subscribe, head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on top of the Ken website. Today's episode was hosted by Snigda Sharma and edited by Rajiv Sien.