Indian Americans Dominate Forbes List Of Foreign-Born Billionaires
India-West News Desk
WASHINGTON, DC – Indian American immigrants are making their mark on the economic landscape. According to Forbes‘ 2025 list of America’s Richest Immigrants, Indian-origin entrepreneurs and executives are leading a new wave of wealth, innovation, and influence across the United States.
For the first time, India ranks No. 1 in the number of foreign-born billionaires living in the U.S., surpassing Israel. The 2025 list includes 12 Indian-origin billionaires, ahead of Israel and Taiwan, which each have 11. This underscores the rising economic footprint of the Indian diaspora, particularly in tech and finance.
The overall list includes 125 foreign-born billionaires from 43 countries, up from 92 in 2022. Together, they hold a combined net worth of $1.3 trillion, accounting for 18% of total U.S. billionaire wealth, now estimated at $7.2 trillion.
Topping the Indian-origin list is Jay Chaudhry, founder of cloud security giant Zscaler, with a net worth of $17.9 billion.
Born in the remote village of Panoh in present-day Himachal Pradesh, Chaudhry’s journey from studying under a tree to running a Nasdaq-listed cybersecurity firm embodies the self-made success story. After moving to the U.S. in 1980, he earned multiple master’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati and launched several startups before founding Zscaler in 2007.
Indian-Origin Billionaires on Forbes 2025 List:
| Name | Net Worth | Industry |
| Jay Chaudhry | $17.9B | Cybersecurity (Zscaler) |
| Vinod Khosla | $9.2B | Sun Microsystems, Venture Capital |
| Rakesh Gangwal | $6.6B | Airlines |
| Romesh T. Wadhwani | $5.0B | Software |
| Rajiv Jain | $4.8B | Finance |
| Kavitark Ram Shriram | $3.0B | Google, Venture Capital |
| Raj Sardana | $2.0B | Tech Services |
| David Paul | $1.5B | Medical Devices |
| Nikesh Arora | $1.4B | Cybersecurity, SoftBank, Google |
| Sundar Pichai | $1.1B | Alphabet (Google) |
| Satya Nadella | $1.1B | Microsoft |
| Neerja Sethi | $1.0B | IT Consulting |
Top 3 Immigrant Billionaires in the U.S.:
- Elon Musk – $393.1B – South Africa
- Sergey Brin – $139.7B – Russia
- Jensen Huang – $137.9B – Taiwan
Key Trends from Forbes 2025:
- 93% of immigrant billionaires are self-made
- 53 made their fortune in technology
- 28 built their wealth in finance
- By contrast, 25% of U.S.-born billionaires inherited their wealth
