Gautam Adani joins $100 billion club, surpasses Mukesh Ambani
Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, is the latest member of the $100 billion club, surpassing Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani to become India's wealthiest man, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. Adani added nearly $24 billion in 2022, becoming the world's largest gainer. Elon Musk currently leads the list of billionaires, followed by Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault in second and third place, respectively.
Gautam Adani is currently the CEO of the ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, which has seven companies listed on the Indian share market. Over the last year, his fortune has grown by about Rs 6,000 crore per week, while his income has increased by 153%. The industrialist is now ranked tenth in the index that ranks the world's wealthiest people based on their net worth.
Adani, a college dropout who initially dominated the coal industry, expanded his fortune into related industries such as green energy and infrastructure, attracting investments from companies such as France's Total SE and Warburg Pincus. Adani Group stock has risen over 1,000% since 2020. According to Bloomberg, he may be exploring partnerships in Saudi Arabia, possibly to purchase stakes in the world's largest oil exporter.
Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of oil-and-petrochemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, was ranked 11th after his net worth, which first surpassed that threshold in October, fell slightly below it to $99 billion, according to a Bloomberg Quint report. Ambani was named Asia's richest man just two weeks ago, with $103 billion in wealth, a 24% increase in a year, Hindustan Times reported.
Indian billionaires' total wealth has increased by $700 billion in the last decade. This is equal to the GDP of Switzerland and twice the GDP of the United Arab Emirates and constitutes 8% of the world's total billionaires. There are 215 billionaires in India, and with 58 new additions, India remains the third-largest billionaire-generating country in the world, adding to India's massive rich-poor divide.
