His estimated wealth of 14,881 million pounds, increased over his last year's estimated fortune of 14,800 million pounds, according to The Times Rich List.

He also, naturally, tops the list of richest Asians.

Mr Mittal figures in almost all categories, second among 20 fastest growing fortune, second among 30 political donors, third among Europe's 50 richest and eighth in the 50 richest in the world category. Among the world's richest Wipro Chairman Azim Premji is at 32nd position while Mukesh and Anil Ambani jointly at 30th.

But, the Hinduja Brothers Srichand and Gopichand have jumped from 13th position in 2005 to seventh this year with their wealth soaring to 36,00 million pounds as compared to 2,100 million pounds last year.

The Times said Anil Agarwal , a NRI, was the 28th wealthiest with a rise to 1680 million pounds from 1060 million pounds.

Mr Mittal is followed by Roman Abramovich with 10,800 million pounds, who recorded a substantial jump from 7,500 million pound in 2005.

The top 10 list also includes Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Boss at ninth position with a wealth of 3065 million pounds.

Other known NRIs in the list include Lord Swraj Paul, whose wealth has gone up from 275 million pounds in 2005 to 465 million pounds this year and position from 175th to 145th.

Jet Airways boss Naresh Goyal is a new entry at 72.

The list has about 35 Indian-origin people with many in the last-year's table having fallen out because the entry was raised from the threshold of 50 million pounds to 60 million pounds, but their number remain same as in 2005, and a distinct improvement from 29 in 2004.

The total wealth of 1000 people in Britain has hit a whopping 300 billion pounds, an increase of 50 billion pounds than last year.

Besides the number of billionaires has gone up to record 54, from 40 the last year.

Significantly gambling boom has helped fuel a 20 per cent increase in the combined wealth. Half of new entries with fortunes of 500 million pounds or more have made their money from hosting internet gambling or owning casinos. These also include two NRIs, Anurag Dikshit and Vikrant Bhargava, who live in Gibralter.

Three Indian-origin women figure in the 100 wealthiest women list, whose combined wealth is 29.4 billion pounds. The wealth of these three women at 19th, 41st and 47th position totals 487 million pounds.

In this category Queen elizabeth (300 million pounds) is at 15th, but only the 31st among 1000 richest, Madonna (248 milliuom pounds) at 19th but at 37th in the main list and Joanne Rowling (520 million pounds) at 10th compared to 26th in the 1000 list.

UNI XC SI HT1832