In the wake of the coronavirus scare, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has lost about $5 billion of his wealth so far this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Similarly, Aditya Birla Group's chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has lost $884 million this year. 

Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani were also among the biggest losers after their wealth decreased by $869 million and $496 million respectively.

Shares of Ambani's Reliance Industries have fallen nearly 11 per cent this year so far. Most of this loss has come in the last 15 days as the global market witnessed a sell-off, anticipating the widespread impact of the coronavirus.

“The fears of the coronavirus spreading are spooking global markets with an impact on emerging markets, like India,” the Economic Times quoted Rajesh Palviya, derivatives head at Axis Securities, as saying.

On Friday, the Sensex crashed as much as 1200 points with investors losing Rs 5 lakh crore in just one hour after the market opened. Japan's Nikkei was down over 4 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 2.8 per cent, Korea's Kospi 3 per cent and Shanghai composite lost 3.8 per cent -- the worst week since 2008. 

"If you see the Dow Jones, in the last 6-7 sessions, it's fallen close to 3,000 points, while the S&P crashed 10 per cent, which is a record high in six days. Since the 2008 crisis, this is the first time this is happening," said Prasanna Tantri, Assistant Professor, Executive Director of the Centre for Analytical Finance, ISB.

After nosediving over 1,525 points during the day, the 30-share BSE barometer ended 1,448.37 points, or 3.64 per cent, lower at 38,297.29.