New Delhi: India has had plenty of rich people in history, but nobody has possibly surpassed the wealth of Mir Osman Ali Khan. He was the last Nizam of Hyderabad and is widely regarded to be the richest man who ever lived in this country. The wealth of the Nizam was reportedly unimaginable and his net worth was hard to calculate.
Mir Osman Ali Khan was the last Nizam of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, which was the largest state in the Indian Empire at that time. On August 29, 1911, he became the Nizam just at the age of 25. He was the ruler of the Hyderabad state between 1911 and 1948 when India annexed it. At that time, Khan was widely considered one of the wealthiest people in the world.
How wealthy was Mir Osman Ali Khan?
Golconda mines, which were then the sole supplier of diamonds in the world were a major source of income for the Nizam. He reportedly had a Jacob Diamond whose value was at some £50 million and he used it as a paperweight. Well, that would give the reader a hint about how wealthy Khan was.
Nizam even appeared on the cover of Time magazine and was described as the richest man in the world. At its peak, Osman Ali Khan’s wealth was reportedly worth Rs 660 crore in the early 1940s. His entire treasure of jewels, in today’s terms, would be worth between $150 million and $500 million. According to some estimates, his wealth was 2 per cent of the GDP of the US. He had his mint where his currency was printed and had a private treasury which reportedly had gold and silver worth millions.
How was Mir Osman Ali Khan as a ruler?
Mir Osman Ali Khan ruled Hyderabad for 37 years and introduced electricity in the state. Also, he developed the railways and roads in the princely state and is called the ‘Modern Hyderabad’s Architect’. He established several public institutions in Hyderabad, including Osmania General Hospital, Osmania University, the State Bank of Hyderabad and the Hyderabad High Court. He built Osman Sagar and Himayat Saga to save the city from floods and also constructed the Nizam Sagar Dam, the oldest dam in Telangana.
