Virat Kohli Most-Valued Indian Celeb, Ahead of Akshay Kumar & Ranveer Singh

Mumbai: Virat Kohli continues to stand tall as far as Indian celebrities are concerned, leaving even the top Bollywood actors in his wake.

For the fourth straight year, the Team India captain was ranked as the most valuable celebrity, with a brand value of USD 237.7 million.

According to brand valuation agency Duff & Phelps, Macho actors Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh occupy the second and third spots, respectively, but they are worth half of that of the cricket superstar.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on economies worldwide, Kohli’s valuation remained same. The others in the top 20 lost 5 per cent of their combined value in 2020, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.

Akshay has retained second place with a brand value of USD 118.9 million, an increase of 13.8 per cent, while Ranveer (USD 102.9 million) stays third.

The rankings are based on the celebrities’ respective brand value from their product endorsements and relative social media presence.

Interestingly, Kohli is the lone non-film personality in the top ten, and of the nine film stars, only two are females.

Shah Rukh Khan is in fourth place, with a valuation of USD 51.1 million, followed by Deepika Padukone (USD 50.4 million) and Alia Bhatt (USD 48 million).

Ayushmann Khurrana (USD 48 million) moved up four notches to sixth place, but Salman Khan (USD 45 million) was down to eighth. Amitabh Bachchan occupies ninth place with USD 44.2 million and is followed by Hrithik Roshan (USD 39.4).