Sunrise chief is richest Asian media star

AVTAR Lit, chairman of Sunrise Radio, has been named Britain's richest Asian media entrepreneur, with an estimated fortune of £65m.

Lit, 55, founded Sunrise Radio as a pirate station in the 1980s. Now part of a legitimate broadcasting empire that turns over £50m a year, it is a far cry from the days when the Department of Trade would regularly interrupt broadcasts and confiscate its equipment.

The Sunrise Radio group comprises the eponymous London analogue station and has expanded recently with the acquisition of Star FM and Time FM. It also owns businesses in India and Sri Lanka.

The top 10 includes figures from the acting, writing and film industries. Second in the list is Lord Alli, co-founder of production company Planet 24 and chairman of media rights group Chorion, owner of the Noddy and Miss Marple characters. The Labour peer, whose fortune is valued at £32m, recently bid £100m for Virgin Radio.

Elsewhere in the top 10, award-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley comes joint fifth with author Salman Rushdie. Both are worth an estimated £8m. Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend It Like Beckham, is at number eight with her wealth valued at £5m.

Sharing eighth spot is fellow filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, director of Elizabeth and the Four Feathers. The list also includes husband and wife Jay Sood and Antonia Millen, who sold their magazine business for £16m, Radio XL founder Arun Bajaj, and Abhijit Banerjee, founder of financial information group Raw Communications.