Five Indian-Americans feature in America's 400 richest people list. In a survey conducted by Forbes magazine, Bill Gates (having a net worth of $81 billion) tops the list for the 23rd time in a row.
The five Indo-Americans who made it to 'The Richest People in America 2016' list are: Romesh Wadhwani, founder of Symphony Technology, Neerja and Bharat Desai, co-founders of Syntel (an outsourcing firm), Rakesh Gangwal, an airline veteran, John Kapoor, an entrepreneur and Silicon Valley angel investor Kavitark Ram Sriram, Forbes said.
According to the Forbes list, the top 10 Americans who made it to the list include Bill Gates (1), Jeff Bezos (2), Warren Buffett (3), Mark Zuckerberg (4), Larry Ellison (5), Michael Bloomberg (6), Charles Koch (7), David Koch (8), Larry Page (9) and Sergey Brin (10).
Romesh Wadhwani
Ranked 222 on the list, Romesh T. Wadhwani has a net worth of $3 billion. He was educated in IIT-Bombay. At present, he is the chairman of Symphony Technology Group, an empire of 17 data, technology, healthcare and analytics companies that together earn more than $2.8 billion in annual revenue, Forbes said.
Neerja & Bharat Desai
The couple rank 274 on the Forbes list. Their net worth is $2.5 billion. The Desai's founded IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel in 1980. Thirty-six years later, Syntel now generates over $950 million in revenue and has nearly 24,000 employees across the globe, Forbes said. Bharat Desai holds an MBA degree from Michigan University.
Rakesh Gangwal
Ranked 321 on the list with a net worth of $2.2 billion, Gangwal is an aviation entrepreneur, who co-founded InterGlobe Aviation, which operates budget carrier IndiGo (India's largest airline by market share). He holds a MBA degree from Wharton University, when he started his airline carrier with United Airlines in 1984.
John Kapoor
Ranked 335 on the list with a net worth of $2.1 billion, Kapoor is the chairman of two drug companies, namely- Akorn, which specialises in "difficult-to-manufacture" prescription drugs and Insys Therapeutics, which produces an opioid for cancer patients. He also owns the Roka Akor Japanese eateries in Chicago, Scottsdale and San Francisco, Forbes said.
Kavitark Ram Sriram
Ranked 361 on the list, Sriram has a net worth of $1.93 billion. The managing partner of Sherpalo Ventures, Sriram, who was one of Google's early backers, has sold of most of his stock but remains on the board of its parent company, Alphabet. Since 2000, he has been investing in young technology startups through his firm.