NEW DELHI: Here's another example of the growing wealth among the non-resident Indians. And no, these are not the already well-known names like Lakshmi Mittal, Swraj Paul and Indra Nooyi, but relatively lesser-known Indians who have struck gold in the eatern part of the world.

Four NRIs - Murli Kewalram Chanrai, Mustaq Ahmad, Sudhir Gupta and Kartar Singh Thakral - figure in the latest Forbes list of Singapore's Top 40 Rich List.

The four Indian expats are collectively worth $1.54 billion, which accounts for more than 5% of the combined net worth of $28 billion accumulated by Singapore's 40 richest people.

Chanrai - ranked the richest Indian in Singapore - is the head of the $3 billion Kewalram Chanrai Group, while Ahmad is the owner of the hugely popular Mustafa Centre in Little India. Gupta, on the other hand, is a tyre tycoon who made it big is Russia, while and Thakral is into textiles and IT peripherals.

The 83-year-old Chanrai was placed seventh among the list of Singapore's Riche Rich with a net worth of $880 million. His Kewalram Chanrai Group is held privately by overseas Indian family trusts and is part of the 150-year-old Chanrai empire.

From a humble beginning in trading business in India and Nigeria in 1860, the family business has grown into a conglomerate with business spanning across textiles, commodities, international trade, IT and real estate spanning over 45 countries.

Next in line is 47-year-old Sudhir Gupta, who has been ranked as Singapore's 13th richest person with a net worth of $320 million.

Gupta, a Singapore citizen and a PhD in agricultural chemistry from Russia, started with a tyre company in Moscow. After acquiring a Dutch company, he formed Amtel-Vredestein, a tyre company which was listed on London Stock Exchange last year.

Kartar Singh Thakral, who has been ranked 25th with a net worth of $175 million, joined his family trading business in 1949.

His empire spans across various businesses, including the Singapore-listed Thakral Corp, that distributes technology gears for products like iPods in China and India. The Thakral Group made a humble begining with 'Punjab Store' in Bangkok in 1905.

Mustaq Ahmad, who happens to be the last among the four Indians at the 27th position with a net worth of $165 million, is the owner of one of Singapore's famous landmarks - the Mustafa Centre. Fifty five-year-old Ahmad runs a bustling store in Singapore's Little India called Mustafa Centre, which is stuffed with more than 150,000 items ranging from beds to spices. The store was opened in 1971.

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