Haryana minister is country's
richest woman, says Forbes
By
Jaideep Sarin
Chandigarh,
Nov 14 (IANS) A low-profile minister in the Bhupinder Singh
Hooda government in Haryana has emerged as the richest woman
in the country.
Savitri
Jindal, 58, who is the chairperson of the Jindal Group, has
been named as the richest woman in India in the latest Forbes
list of richest Indians.
Jindal
is minister of state in the Hooda government looking after
revenue, disaster management, consolidation, and rehabilitation
and housing ministries.
According
to Forbes, Savitri Jindal has a net worth of US$2.9 billion,
and is ranked 12th overall among the top-40 richest Indians
who include the likes of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh
Ambani, expatriate steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Reliance-ADAG
chairman Anil Ambani and realty baron K.P. Singh.
Jindal's
net worth, according to Forbes, came down from $8.5 billion
in 2007 to 2.9 billion, mainly owing to the global financial
meltdown. Last year, she was ranked 11th.
The
only other woman to figure in the list is Times of India Group's
chairperson Indu Jain (17th).
Jindal
is the mother of Congress member of parliament from Kurukshetra
and industrialist Navin Jindal. She has three more sons and
five daughters.
Her
late husband, O.P. Jindal, had set up the Jindal empire from
Hisar town in Haryana nearly four decades ago.
O.P.
Jindal, who himself was a cabinet minister in the Hooda government,
died when his private helicopter crashed near Saharanpur in
Uttar Pradesh Mar 31, 2005.
His
cabinet colleague Surender Singh, son of former Haryana chief
minister and union defence minister Bansi Lal, was also killed
in the crash.
The
Rs.150 billion Jindal group has interests in the iron, steel
and power sectors.
The group has nearly 50 plants in India and abroad, including
South American countries like Chile, Bolivia and Peru.
Savitri
Jindal was inducted as a minister of state with independent
charge in the Hooda government just weeks after her husband
died. She contested the Hisar assembly seat, earlier represented
by her husband, in the 2005 by-election and won it by a huge
margin.
The
Jindal family mainly operates from Hisar, 300 km from Chandigarh.
The family runs a well known school, Vidya Devi Jindal School,
in the town.
Indo-Asian
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