PALLONJI MISTRY (231st on the Forbes list)
Pallonji Mistry is one of India's most reclusive billionaires. Though one of the richest Indians he is hardly ever heard from.
74-year-old Mistry has a fortune of $2.3 billion and a ranking of 231 on the list. But his story is not a familiar one. Few outside corporate India's circles have even heard his name.
Mistry has a 18.37 per cent stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of the Rs 44,000-crore (Rs 440 billion) Tata Group, making him the single largest individual shareholder. His holding is six times that of group Chairman Ratan Tata and his family.
Media reports say that Pallonji Mistry is an affable and humble person seldom willing to assert his authority or position. However, he carries a high degree of credibility in his business dealings.
Noel Tata, Ratan's half-brother and the son of Simone Tata, is married to Mistry's eldest daughter, Aloo.
Mistry's sons Shapoor and Cyrus are on the board of Indian Hotels and Tata Power, respectively.
The Mistrys have a huge construction company, Shapoorji Pallonji. Shapoorji, the group patriarch and Pallonji's father, built some of Mumbai's landmarks around the Fort area -- the Hong Kong Bank, Grindlays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Reserve Bank of India building.
Pallonji Mistry extended the construction interests of the group to the Middle East by bidding for the Sultan of Oman's palace.