NEW DELHI: Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) jumped over 6 per cent on Thursday, a day after the conglomerate announced that its board has decided to implement 'a scheme of arrangement' to transfer gasification undertaking into a wholly-owned subsidiary.
This surge comes at a time when personal fortune of Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group, and RIL boss Mukesh Ambani is almost at par and there is a possibility that the former may topple the latter to become Asia's and India's richest billionaire in the very near future.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani's fortune stood at USD 89.1 billion on Thursday, just USD 0.6 billion shy of Ambani's USD 89.7 billion. Their wealth fluctuates often based on their companies' share prices/market caps and in the past few sessions, baring Thursday, RIL's share price/m-cap has seen a plunge while m-cap of Adani Group companies has seen a strong rise as most Adani shares are now trading at an all-time-peak.
Ambani has been holding the title of India's richest business tycoon for the past many years and in April dethroned Alibaba's Jack Ma to become Asia's richest. Adani, on the other hand, has added more billions to his fortune than anyone else this year. In 2021, Adani has added USD 55.3 billion to his fortune compared to Ambani's USD 13 billion.
It would be now intresting to see if Ambani is able to maintain his lead as the two most powerful faces of India Inc. are gearing up to make it big in the renewable energy space. The two Groups have committed to invest billions of dollars in solar energy and expect this segment to contribute to a significant portion of their revenue from next decade.
RIL stock closed Thursday's trade quoting at Rs 2,494 apiece, up 6.10 per cent, on the BSE. It also pushed benchmark indexes to end with significant gain with BSE Sensex adding 454 points and NSE Nifty adding 121 points on Thursday.