THE COMEDIENNE and novelist Meera Syal and the film-maker Gurinder Chadha, the director of Bend It Like Beckham, have joined the ranks of Britain's wealthiest Asians.

The two new entries, worth pounds 4m each, are among 19 women on the annual Asian Xpress Rich List, which was once almost exclusively male.

The 300-strong list was topped for the third consecutive year by the billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who owns LNM, the second largest steel company in the world. He increased his net wealth by pounds 410m to pounds 1.3bn.

However, the brothers Srichand and Gopi Hinduja, who were involved in the passport affair that led to Peter Mandelson's resignation, were absent from this year's list after being placed second last year. Asian Xpress said they appeared to have moved their money back to India after losing their costly battle for British citizenship.

Philip Beresford, who has compiled the list for the past three years, said: "This is the first year I have seen independent, younger women who show signs of cracking the glass ceiling, if they are not yet breaking it. It shows a shift from the traditional and sometimes subservient role some Asian women have taken in the past."

Ms Chadha, 43, who grew up in Southall, west London, was propelled on to the list with her third film Bend It Like Beckham, which grossed pounds 18.2m last year. Ms Syal, 41, who came 286th, has co- scripted the musical Bombay Dreams, and has written her first novel, Anita and Me, and the comedy series The Kumars at No 42.

Sarwar Ahmed, publisher of Asian Xpress, said the new entries showed second and third-generation Asians were gaining their wealth "from more than just curry and clothing".

Mr Beresford identified the presence of East Africans, including Jasminder Singh and Manubhai Madhvani, who was expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin, as significant. He said: "There was a huge debate about whether we should let in the Ugandan Asian immigrants. I hope those who argued against it will be eating humble pie."

Britain booming, Podium, page 19

Wealth list the top 10

1 Lakshmi Mittal, LNM Group, pounds 1.31bn (last year pounds 900m)
2 Mike Jatania and family, Lornamead Int, pounds 570m (pounds 548m)
3 Vijay & Bhikhu Patel, Waymade Healthcare, pounds 350m (pounds 298m)
4 Jasminder Singh and family, Edwardian Group, pounds 350m (pounds 400m)
5 Tom Singh, New Look, pounds 250m (pounds 160m)
6 Anil Chandaria and family, Comcraft, pounds 200m (pounds 200m)
7 Sir Anwar Pervez, Bestway, pounds 167m (pounds 175m)
8 Gulu Lalvani, Binatone, pounds 150m (pounds 120m)
9 Bharat and Ketan Mehta, Necessity Supplies, pounds 118m (pounds 80m)
10 Navin and Varsha Engineer, Chemidex Pharma, pounds 111m (pounds 105m)