30-07-2022
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: Yang Huiyan is no longer Asia’s richest woman, as the country’s developers, including her Country Garden Holdings Co are battered by China’s property crisis.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Yang has been overtaken by India’s Savitri Jindal. The founder of the conglomerate Jindal Group, she has a fortune of $11.3 billion. The chemical-fibre company Hengli Petrochemical Co, the source of much of Fan Hongwei’s riches, was the only other Chinese tycoon ahead of her.
When Yang inherited her father’s interest in real estate developer in 2005, she became one of the planet’s youngest billionaires. Since 2010, she has been Asia’s wealthiest woman, a testament to the country’s booming real estate market.
China’s largest property developer Country Garden revealed this week that it needs to raise equity at a discount and its shares plunged to their lowest level since 2016. It’s fortune has more than halved this year to $11 billion. About 60% of Country Garden and 43% of its management-services unit are owned by Yang, who is now in her early forties.
On the other hand, the 72-year-old Jindal is the richest lady in India and the country’s 10th richest citizen. In 2005, her husband, OP Jindal, died in a helicopter crash while on a business trip. One of the leading steel producers in India, as well as a major player in the energy sector and infrastructure sector.
Jindal’s wealth has risen and fallen dramatically in the last few years. During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, it dropped to $3.2 billion, but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, it rose to $15.6 billion.