Rs 40,000 crore dividend boom! How Ambani, Adani & India's top billionaires got richer in FY25
Some of India's richest billionaires became even richer in FY25, not through stock rallies or IPO windfalls, but through cold, hard cash. Ten of the country's most powerful promoter groups, including the Ambanis, Adanis, and Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, collectively earned over ₹40,000 crore in dividends during the year.In a sign of India Inc's robust cash generation and generous payout policies, dividend income surged across sectors, from tech and telecom to metals and pharma.
Billionaire philanthropist Shiv Nadar, founder of HCL Technologies, took home a jaw-dropping ₹9,902 crore in dividends in FY25, the highest among all promoter groups, according to data collated from regulatory filings and ACE Equity.HCL, which declared a dividend of ₹60 per share, paid out ₹16,290 crore in total. The Nadar family holds a 60.81% stake in the company. At a net worth of $37.3 billion, the 80-year-old tech magnate is India's third richest man and ranks 50th in the global Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Close behind in the payout list is Vedanta's Anil Agarwal, whose family earned ₹9,591 crore in dividend income during the year. Vedanta, which declared ₹17,009 crore in total dividends for FY25, has been under scrutiny for its aggressive cash returns, with short-seller Viceroy recently questioning the sustainability of such payouts. The Agarwal family holds 56.38% in the company through various unlisted holding entities.
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Azim Premji, the philanthropic billionaire and founder of Wipro, earned ₹4,570 crore in FY25. His family owns 72.66% of the company, which declared a dividend of ₹6 per share.The Ambani family earned Rs 3,655 crore from Reliance Industries' dividend payout in FY25. Reliance Industries paid dividends worth Rs 7,443 crore, with the Ambani family owning 50.11 per cent directly as well as through unlisted holding companies. The family received Rs 5.50 per share in dividends.
Also Read | Reliance Industries shares at inflection point. 6 reasons why FY26 could be the year of big re-rating
Infosys promoters, including N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S D Shibulal, S Gopalakrishnan, and K Dinesh, collectively received ₹2,331 crore in dividends. The promoter group owns 14.6% in the tech giant, which declared ₹17,854 crore in dividends at ₹43/share in FY25.
Sunil Bharti Mittal and family, the promoters of Bharti Airtel, pocketed ₹2,357 crore in dividend income, as the telecom major paid out ₹16/share to investors.
Dilip Shanghvi, India's original pharma billionaire, earned ₹2,091 crore from Sun Pharma in FY25. The company declared ₹3,839 crore in dividends and the promoter group holds a 54.48% stake.
Gautam Adani and family earned ₹1,460 crore in dividends from their group companies, led by Adani Ports & SEZ (₹996 crore), with the rest coming from Ambuja Cements, Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, and ACC. Bajaj Group promoters earned around ₹1,645 crore in FY25, led by Bajaj Auto, which had the most generous per-share payout of ₹210. The family also benefited from dividends across other listed group companies Bajaj Holdings & Investments, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Electricals, Mukand, and Bajaj Finance.
A surprise entrant in the dividend heavyweights' club was M A Moopen, promoter of Aster DM Healthcare, who earned ₹2,469 crore in FY25. With a 41.89% holding and a ₹118/share dividend, Aster turned out to be one of the year's most generous cash givers in the healthcare space.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
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