London: NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's wealth has gone up to 14.8 billion pounds as he continued to rein as the richest person in Britain, according to a list published in a leading newspaper here yesterday (Dec 6, 2006).

 
The Sunday Times Rich List said seven of the ten wealthiest billionaires living in Britain come from overseas and in the city there are as many as 40 billionaires. It said Mittal has benefited from soaring steel prices.

Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil tycoon and Chelsea football club owner, comes second with a fortune worth 11 billion pounds an increase of 3 billion over last year.

The combined wealth of the top ten on the list is 52.55 billion pounds 10 billion pounds more than the top 200 a decade ago.

It is also the highest wealth total yet recorded and represents a 23.3 per cent rise on last year.

Besides Mittal and Abramovich, others in top ten are Duke of Westminster (5.6b pounds), Hans Rausing (4.95 b pounds) Philip and Christina Green (4.85 b pounds), Oleg Deripaska (4.37 b pounds), Sir Richard Branson (3 b pounds), Kirsten and Jorn Rausing (2.75 b pounds), David and Simon Reuben (2.5 b pounds) and Spiro Latsis family (2.4 b pounds).

New entries this year include inventor James Dyson, newspaper proprietor Richard Desmond, and Iraqi-Born tycoon Nadhmi Auchi.

The wealthiest woman on the list is Christina Green, who shares a 4.85 billion pounds fortune with her husband, retail giant Philip Green.