India hosted the BRICS Summit 2026 in New Delhi on 12-13 September.
The high-profile gathering brought together leaders of BRICS member and partner countries, as well as outreach invitees. India is the BRICS Chair for the 2026 edition.
Russian President , Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi are among the global leaders who attended the summit. Founding member Brazil sent Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira to stand in for President to attend the summit in New Delhi.
BRICS – which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was created in 2006 as BRIC by the first four countries as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers. It has since expanded to include other states and has 11 member nations now.
A BRICS overview published by puts the expanded grouping at about 49% of the world’s population, 39% of global GDP and 23% of international trade.
Worlds’s top billioniares come from BRICS nations. Gautam Adani, India second richest billionaire, met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to strengthen trade and investment ties this weekend on BRICS Summit sidelines.
Lets take a look at the richest billioniares in the BRICS countries and their net worth.
Brazil: Eduardo Saverin, Net Worth $33 billion
Eduardo Saverin is the richest person in Brazil, with an estimated net worth of over $33 billion.
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Saverin co-founded Facebook (now Meta Platforms) in 2004 alongside Mark Zuckerberg while studying at . He served as the company’s first chief financial officer and business manager, according to Forbes.
Saverin derives the bulk of his multi-billion-dollar fortune from his early and ongoing stake in Meta, Bloomberg says. In 2015, he co-founded B Capital, a global venture capital firm that invests in high-growth technology startups and manages billions in assets.
Saverin moved to Singapore in 2009 and officially renounced his ahead of Facebook’s 2012 initial public offering.
Russia : Alexey Mordashov & family: $37 Billion
is the majority shareholder in steel company Severstal, which he ran as CEO for 19 years before resigning in 2015, according to Forbes. The family has a net worth of $37 billion.
Hit by sanctions in 2022, Mordashov transferred ownership of key assets, including shares of leisure company TUI and mining outfit Nordgold. Severstal, in which he still has a 77% stake, lost more than $400 million in 2022 due to Western sanctions, according to Mordashov.
Severstal sold off two US steel plants in 2014, withdrawing from the market at a time of rising tensions between Russia and the West, and turned its focus to its domestic business.
A son of mill workers, Mordashov rose to become the finance director of a steel mill.
Vladimir Potanin is the second-richest Russian. Most of his wealth is now parked in his 35% stake in Moscow-listed palladium and nickel producer Nornickel, according to Forbes.
India: Mukesh Ambani. Net Worth: $86.3 Billion
, the Chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, is the richest Indian with a net worth of about $86.3 billion, according to Forbes
Ambani chairs and runs $125 billion (revenue) Reliance Industries, which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, retail, media and financial services.
Reliance’s telecom and broadband service Jio has over 500 million subscribers. Ambani has expanded Reliance into green energy. The company will invest $80 billion over the next decade or so in renewable energy and in building a new complex next to its refinery.
Ambani’s three children joined the n 2023. Son Akash heads Jio; daughter Isha oversees retail and financial services; and younger son Anant is in the energy business.
China: Zhang Yiming: Net Worth: $69.3 Billion
Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, is the richest person in China with an estimated net worth of around $69.3 billion, according to Forbes. Yiming made his fortune as the principal co-founder of the Chinese tech company ByteDance.
In January, a deal over was finalised–including handing over control of the short video platform’s US operations to a group of Trump-approved investors.
Zhong Shanshan, the chairman of beverage giant Nongfu Spring, follows as a close second with a fortune of $68.1 billion. The third place goes to Tencent Chairman Ma Huateng.
South Africa: Johann Rupert, Net Worth, $16 Billion
The richest person in South Africa is Johann Rupert, with an estimated net worth of over $16 billion.
Rupert is chairman of the Swiss luxury goods giant .
The company owns renowned global brands such as Cartier and Montblanc. The Richemont company was formed by the separation of the, which his father founded in the 1940s.
Rupert’s business interests also extend to large investment holding companies; he owns a 7% stake in Remgro and a 26% stake in the Luxembourg-based company Reinet.
Remgro, the Stellenbosch investment company chaired by Rupert, told shareholders on 11 September that it expects headline earnings per share to rise between for the financial year ended June 2026.
(With inputs from Forbes)