Vijay Mallya exits Forbes rich list as fortune dips

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been moved out of Forbes' global rich list of 1,226 billionaires, even as the number of Indians in this elite club has grown since last year.

With a net worth of USD one billion, Mallya was ranked 45th among 48 Indians on this annual rich list in March 2012, while he was placed at 1,153rd position globally.

However, Mallya is missing from the list for 2013, which was released last night by the business magazine Forbes that is known for its rankings of rich and powerful from across the world.

The list includes only those with a net worth of USD one billion and more and the number of such persons has grown to a record number of 1,226 this year, Forbes said. The 2013 list has 55 persons from India, up from 48 last year.

While Mallya's current net worth is not known, Forbes magazine's Indian edition had put the size of his fortune at USD 800 million in an India Rich List published few months ago in October 2012.

Amid huge debt burden and mounting losses at Kingfisher Airlines, Malllya's fortunes has been declining continuously over the recent years and his net worth was pegged at USD 1.4billion in March 2011. UB Group has also proposed to sell a majoirty stake in United Spirits Ltd to UK-based Diageo.

"King of good times is having nothing but bad times lately. His (Mallya's) Kingfisher Airlines, weighed down bywhat is believed to be USD 2 billion in debt,

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