India overtakes Israel with 12 self-made billionaires as tech and finance drive immigrant wealth in America
Indian immigrants are leading the surge in billionaire wealth across the United States, topping Forbes’ 2025 list of America’s Richest Immigrants. With 12 self-made billionaires, India has overtaken Israel as the country of origin for the most foreign-born billionaires residing in the US, reported business-standard.com.
From cybersecurity pioneers to tech CEOs, Indian-origin entrepreneurs dominate Forbes’ immigrant billionaire list for 2025, accounting for a significant portion of America’s $1.3 trillion immigrant wealth.
According to Forbes, Indian-origin professionals and entrepreneurs have become a defining force in shaping the US economy. With 12 Indian-born billionaires on the list, India has surpassed Israel and Taiwan (each with 11) to become the top contributor of foreign-born billionaires in the US.
The 2025 list includes 125 foreign-born billionaires from 43 countries, representing 14% of all US billionaires and commanding a collective net worth of $1.3 trillion — 18% of America’s total billionaire wealth
- Who Are the Indian-Origin Billionaires in 2025?
New entrants from India include Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; and Nikesh Arora, CEO of cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks.
Jay Chaudhry, founder of Zscaler, leads the Indian-origin list with a net worth of $17.9 billion. Born in a remote village in Himachal Pradesh, Chaudhry migrated to the US in the 1980s and went on to become a pioneer in the field of cybersecurity.
- Full List of Indian-Origin Billionaires on Forbes 2025:
- Jay Chaudhry – $17.9B – Security software
- Vinod Khosla – $9.2B – Sun Microsystems, venture capital
- Rakesh Gangwal – $6.6B – Airline industry
- Romesh T. Wadhwani – $5.0B – Software
- Rajiv Jain – $4.8B – Finance
- Kavitark Ram Shriram – $3.0B – Google, venture capital
- Raj Sardana – $2.0B – Technology services
- David Paul – $1.5B – Medical devices
- Nikesh Arora – $1.4B – Cybersecurity, SoftBank, Google
- Sundar Pichai – $1.1B – Alphabet
- Satya Nadella – $1.1B – Microsoft
- Neerja Sethi – $1.0B – IT consulting
- How Do Other Countries Compare?
Three of the ten richest Americans are immigrants:
- Elon Musk (South Africa) leads with $393.1B.
- Sergey Brin (Russia), Google cofounder, holds $139.7B.
- Jensen Huang (Taiwan), Nvidia CEO, stands at $137.9B.
Taiwan has rapidly risen in representation, increasing its billionaire count from 4 in 2022 to 11 in 2025, now tied with Israel.
- Tech and Finance: The Billionaire Engines
The Forbes report notes that while a quarter of all US billionaires inherited their fortunes, a remarkable 93% of immigrant billionaires are self-made.
Nearly two-thirds of them generated their wealth in just two sectors:
- Technology – 53 billionaires
- Finance – 28 billionaires
India’s rise in the billionaire ranks underscores the growing influence of its diaspora, especially in high-growth sectors shaping the global economy.
