Today, when we talk about the rich people of the country, names like Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Tata come to the fore, but have you ever wondered who was the first richest billionaire of India when the country got independence? The country is celebrating its 78th Independence Day today. In such a situation, let us know who was the richest person in the country in 1947 and how much wealth did he have?
Who was the first rich billionaire of independent India?
The country became independent on 15 August 1947, at that time the richest person in the country was Mir Osman Ali Khan, who became the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1911 and remained the Nizam of Hyderabad even when India became independent in 1947. Mir Osman Ali Khan had a mine of precious gems like diamonds, gold and sapphire-topaz. It was said that trucks filled with gold bricks used to be parked in his garden. Not only this, he also had a collection of luxury cars.
The diamond, private plane and Rolls Royce cars were worth so many crores
Mir Osman Ali Khan had a 185 carat Jacob diamond, which he used as a paperweight. The price of that diamond was Rs 1340 crore. He had many expensive cars, it is said that when Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited refused to sell its car to Mir Osman, the ruler of Hyderabad bought some old Rolls-Royce cars and used them to dump garbage. He had 50 Rolls Royce cars. He even had a private plane.
The property was worth so many crores
Mir Osman Ali Khan had a wealth of $230 billion (about 18 lakh crores) as per today’s time (Usman Ali Khan Net Worth). His total wealth was 2 percent of America’s GDP at that time. Nizam Osman was born on April 6, 1886. He ranks fourth in the list of the world’s richest people of all time. Most of his wealth came from the diamond mines of Golconda. He was also the richest person in the world at that time.
During the First World War, he helped the British by sending them arms and money. He also built a separate mint to mint coins. Usman has also been awarded the title of ‘Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India’. But the interesting thing is that despite having so much, it was not the Nizam’s royal pomp and splendor but his miserliness that were famous all over the world.
The outfit was quite simple
It is said about the Nizam that he mostly wore unironed kurta-pyjama instead of royal clothes and had simple slippers on his feet. He had a Turkish hat, which he wore for 35 years. Where he slept was an old bed, broken tables and chairs, an ashtray filled with ashes, wastepaper baskets filled with garbage.
He did not even give up smoking cigarettes
It is also said about Nizam that he would not even leave the cigarettes smoked by the guests. He used to eat food in a common vessel while sitting on a simple mat. If a guest who came to his house left a cigarette after smoking, he would even smoke the remaining portion of it.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)