Andhracafe.com- New York, Nov 17 (IANS) Steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, the Ambani brothers and IT honcho Azim Premji head Forbes list of 40 rich Indians who are collectively valued at $170 billion (Rs.7.63 trillion), it was announced here Friday.

With the number of billionaires in the list rising to 36 - up nine from last year - the top 10 richest Indians alone are worth $112 billion, the magazine said.

The new entrants in the list this year are Sun TV owner Kalanidhi Maran ($1.90 billion), Unitech promoter Ramesh Chandra ($5.30 billion) and Multi Commodity Exchange CEO Jignesh Shah ($840 million).

Two others who returned to the list were automobile tycoon Keshub Mahindra and Infosys co-founder K. Dinesh.

Biocon head Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, however, exited from the list.

Mittal remains numero uno with a net worth of $25 billion.

During the year, the Ambani brothers saw their fortunes soar - Mukesh's by $11.5 billion to $18.50 billion and Anil's by $9.3 billion to $14.80 billion.

Premji's net worth increased to $14 billion from $11 billion in 2005 but he slipped to fourth position this year.

Real estate major DLF Group chairman K.P. Singh's fortune doubled during the year from $5 billion to $10 billion.

Forbes said the minimum net worth needed to make it into the list this year rose substantially to $790 million from $590 million in 2005 in keeping with rising fortunes.