NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has maintained his position as the richest Asian in Britain in 2006 with a fortune worth 14.8 billion pounds even as the wealth of the country's richest 300 Asians jumped by over 40 per cent in a year.

The total wealth of Asians in the UK has gone up from 24.9 billion pounds in 2005 to 35.5 billion pounds this year, an increase of 42 per cent, boosted by strong stock markets and the community's links with the booming Asian economies, according to Philip Beresford, author of The Sunday Times Rich List'.

Mittal, Chairman of Mittal Steel, the world's largest steel company, was worth 14.8 billion pounds in 2005 and maintained his position as the richest Asian in Britain in 2006 as well, according to a report in The Sunday Times.

The wealth of the Sri Chand Hinduja, 70, and Gopi Chand Hinduja, 66 -- Chairman and President respectively of the Hinduja Group -- has more than doubled from 1.5 billion pounds last year to 3.6 billion pounds this year. They continue to be the second richest Asians in Britain.

The list, being published by Sunrise Radio, also showed that the number of billionaire entries had doubled to four.

34-year-old Anurag Dikshit, the co-founder of PartyGaming, the online poker company, has emerged as the third richest Asian in the UK with a fortune of more than 1.7 billion pounds. He lives in Gibraltar to take advantage of the favourable tax laws on gambling.

(www.financialexpress.com)