CHANDIGARH: A low-profile minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana has emerged as the richest woman in the country.

Savitri Jindal, 58, who is the chairperson of the Jindal Group, has been named as the richest woman in India in the latest Forbes list of richest Indians.

Jindal is minister of state in the Hooda government looking after revenue, disaster management, consolidation, and rehabilitation and housing ministries.

According to Forbes, Savitri Jindal has a net worth of $2.9 billion, and is ranked 12th overall among the top-40 richest Indians who include the likes of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, expatriate steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Reliance-ADAG chairman Anil Ambani and realty baron KP Singh.

Jindal's net worth, according to Forbes, came down from $8.5 billion in 2007 to 2.9 billion, mainly owing to the global financial meltdown. Last year, she was ranked 11th.

Her late husband, O.P. Jindal, had set up the Jindal empire from Hisar town in Haryana nearly four decades ago.

O.P. Jindal, who himself was a cabinet minister in the Hooda government, died when his private helicopter crashed near Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh Mar 31, 2005. His cabinet colleague Surender Singh, son of former Haryana chief minister and union defence minister Bansi Lal, was also killed in the crash.