Gautam Adani, the former richest person in Asia and India, has seen a significant decrease in his wealth in the past week. Adani’s fortune, which was valued at $44 billion last year, has now dropped to approximately $72 billion. This drop is due to a decline in the shares of all Adani companies, with Adani Enterprises Ltd. closing down 28%.
Adani’s wealth now falls below that of Mukesh Ambani, another Indian magnate, who is currently worth $81 billion. The decrease in Adani’s wealth can be attributed to the recent accusations by Hindenburg Research, which claims that Adani is involved in “pulling the largest con in corporate history.” As a result, Adani’s business empire, which focuses on infrastructure development in line with the goals of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has lost more than $90 billion in market value.
In January, Gautam Adani, the head of the Adani Group, experienced a significant decrease in his net worth, losing $36 billion. This drop follows a rapid rise in his wealth that had previously taken him to the second-richest person in the world, just behind Elon Musk. Adani briefly ranked as Asia’s richest person in February, before securing the spot in June. As of Tuesday’s close, he was the 10th richest person.
Despite the recent turbulence and fluctuating share prices, Adani Enterprises was able to successfully complete a $2.5 billion offering on Tuesday, India’s largest follow-on share sale. This was partly due to an increase in demand from existing shareholders and institutional investors at the last minute. However, retail investors showed limited interest in the offering.
Gautam Adani, the head of the Adani Group, has recently faced allegations from Hindenburg Research. Adani denied the allegations over the weekend and attempted to present Hindenburg as attacking India as a whole. Hindenburg responded by stating that allegations of fraud cannot be ignored and cannot be concealed by nationalism or an exaggerated response.
The impact of these allegations has been widespread, causing a decline in Adani Group shares and a decrease in the wealth of several billionaires in India, including Mukesh Ambani, who has lost $5.6 billion this year as of Tuesday. Other billionaires, such as Radhakishan Damani, the founder of a large supermarket chain, and Ravi Jaipuria of Varun Beverages Ltd., have also seen a decline in their fortunes and are among the largest decliners globally.
