Portal:Hyderabad/Selected biography/1
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B. 6 April 1886
Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddiqi Bahadur (Urdu: عثمان علی خان بہادر; 6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967), was the last Nizam (or ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad and of Berar. He ruled Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, until it was annexed by India. He was styled His Exalted Highness The Nizam of Hyderabad.
During his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world, having a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the early 1940s ($33.7 billion today) or 2 per cent of the US economy then. At that time the treasury of the newly independent Union government of India reported annual revenue of US$1 billion only. He was portrayed on the cover of TIME magazine on 22 February 1937, described as the world's richest man.[3] The Nizam is widely believed to have remained as the richest man in South Asia until his death in 1967, though his fortunes fell to US$1 billion by then and became a subject of multiple legal disputes between bitterly fighting rival descendants. Calculating his modern-day worth, accounting for inflation, the Nizam was worth $236 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people to have ever lived.
He built the Hyderabad House in Delhi, now used for diplomatic meetings by the Government of India. (Full article...)