Mukesh Ambani is Asia’s wealthiest billionaire according to the new Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $26.8 billion, even after his holding his Indian conglomerate Reliance slid nearly a fifth over the last year. He ranks as....

Mukesh Ambani is Asia’s wealthiest billionaire according to the new Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $26.8 billion, even after his holding his Indian conglomerate Reliance slid nearly a fifth over the last year. He ranks as the eleventh richest individual in the world.

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, ranks number two in Asia, with a $25.8 billion fortune.

Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian-born chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, is the third wealthiest Asian with a net worth of $23.6 billion, according to the newswire.

Their fortunes account for over a tenth of the combined net worth of the world’s 20 richest people, Bloomberg said in the ranking.

However their fortunes are dwarfed by the US billionaires in the ranking. Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom tycoon, is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $68.5 billion.

Nine out of the 20 of the world's wealthiest are Americans, the richest and probably most famous of whom are Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates with $62.4 billion and Warren Buffett, the investment guru, with $43.8 billion.

But Asia is catching up. For 2011 and 2012, Julius Baer forecasts that China and India together will contribute over 40 per cent of global growth alone. The current deterioration in global economic conditions will see further supportive, pro-growth policies from China in the months ahead, said the Swiss bank.

The estimated 1.16 million HNW individuals across Asia with wealth of $5.6 trillion in 2010 is forecast to more than double to 2.82 million with wealth to almost triple to $15.8 trillion by 2015.

China alone is forecast to have 1.40 million HNW individuals with stock of wealth of $8.76 trillion by 2015.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index was launched yesterday and will follow daily movements of wealth in the top tier of the world's richest people.