NEW DELHI: In less than a year since his port to power conglomerate lost more than $150 billion in market capitalisation following the Hindenburg Research stinging report, Gautam Adani, Chairperson of the Adani Group, has overtaken Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani on the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index (BBI), to become India’s and Asia’s wealthiest man.
With a net worth of $97.6 billion, the Adani Group founder is now the world’s 12th richest person. RIL’s Ambani is now at 13th spot in the global rich list with a wealth of $97 billion. In January 2023, Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller, accused the Adani Group of prolonged stock manipulation and accounting irregularities.
These claims were refuted by the Adani Group.Gautam Adani’s personal wealth, which fell as much as $69 billion last year, has seen a sharp surge in the last few months as his firms continue to raise funds from reputed investors. Back to back favourable observations by the Supreme Court also lifted investors’ sentiment and pushed Adani Stocks upward.
As per Bloomberg Billionaire Index on Friday morning, Adani gained $7.67 billion from the last list position and his wealth surged $13.3 billion year-to-date in 2024. Earlier in 2022, the surge of Adani Group stocks took Gautam Adani to the world’s third-wealthiest individual. Other notable Indians on the billionaire list include Shapoor Mistry at the 38th spot with wealth of $34.6 billion and Shiv Nadar at the 45th spot with $33 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to top the index with a net worth of $220 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon at $169 billion.