New York, Feb 28: Nine Indians made it into the latest list of billionaires released by Forbes magazine. The Indians were together worth a whopping $31.9 billion. The world's richest people got a whole lot richer in the past year, and more numerous, with 64 new members on the annual billionaire's list - headed once again by Bill Gates. Azim Premji tops the Indian list with a fortune of $6.7 billion and is ranked 58th overall. He is followed by Lakshmi Mittal who has a fortune of $6.2 billion. Mittal is a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) based in the UK. Among the most prominent debutantes on the Forbes ranking was Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who just a few years ago was a penniless single mother struggling to make ends meet. The richest Asian is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud ($21.5 billion) of Saudi Arabia. The richest woman is Alice Walton ($20 billion) whose family controls Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. After two years of declining fortunes caused by a weakened global economy, the total net worth of the world's billionaires soared by $500 billion, from $1.4 trillion last year to $1.9 trillion. Microsoft co-founder Gates headed the list for the 10th year in a row, with an estimated net worth of $46.6 billion, up from $40.7 billion the previous year. But his position was looking more vulnerable than ever. Legendary investor Warren Buffet added $12.4 billion - the biggest gain of anyone on the list - to leave him just short of Gates with $42.9 billion. This year's total of 587 billionaires was a Forbes record, with 56 "comeback" billionaires joining the 64 rookies and the others on last year's list.