Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata or Gautam Adani: Which businessman is India's highest taxpayer?

Mukesh Ambani, the richest Asian, is the owner of the Fortune 500 company Reliance Industries. With a market capitalisation of Rs 19.68 lakh crore, Reliance Industries is the largest conglomerate in India. In the financial year 2023, Reliance Industries paid over Rs 20,713 crore in taxes to the government, making Mukesh Ambani the highest taxpayer in the country.

Following Reliance, the second and third largest taxpayers are the State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank, respectively. In the previous financial year, SBI paid Rs 17,649 crore in income taxes. HDFC Bank, with Atanu Chakraborty serving as its part-time chairman and independent director, paid Rs 15,350 crore in income taxes.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the IT arm of the Tata Group, paid Rs 14,604 crore in taxes during the financial year 2023, making it the second-largest listed company in India. Ratan Tata is currently the chairman of the Tata Group.

ICICI Bank, the fourth-largest company in India, paid Rs 11,793 crore in taxes for the financial year 2023. Sandeep Bakhshi, who was appointed as the CEO in 2018, took over from Chanda Kochhar as the bank's chief operating officer.

Another major contributor from the IT sector is Infosys, which paid Rs 9,214 crore in taxes last year. Infosys operates in more than 56 countries worldwide and was founded by NR Narayana Murthy.

Interestingly, Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group, is not among India's top 10 taxpayers. This is because corporate taxes in India are levied on profits rather than market capitalisation. While the Adani Group has substantial market capitalization, it does not generate profits on the same scale as Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries or other top companies.