Gautam Adani, chairperson of the Adani Group and India’s second richest man, added USD 49 billion to his wealth in 2021.
This net addition to his wealth is more than what top billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault added, as per the 2022 M3M Harun Global Rich List released on Wednesday.
“Gautam Adani, 59, is the biggest gainer in the M3M Hurun Global List 2022 and added USD 49 billion to his wealth last year… (this addition is) more than top three global billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault,” the list said.
Adani’s wealth in the past one year surged by 153 percent to USD 81 billion from USD 17 billion (in 2020) after listing renewable energy company Adani green.
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Gautam Adani founded the Adani Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate in 1988. The group has a diversified business which includes port management, electric power generation, mining, airport operations, natural gas, food processing and infrastructure.
Adani ports is currently India’s largest private multi-port operator with presence in over 12 locations along India’s coast including Mundra port which recently handled the largest ever container ship to make a port call in India.
Adani’s wealth increased by 1830 percent in the past 10 years, the list said. In April 2021, Adani Group became the third Indian conglomerate to cross USD 100 billion market capitalization.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and MD of Reliance Industries continues to be the India’s as well as Asia’s wealthiest man with a wealth of USD 103 billion. His wealth grew by USD 20 billion in 2021, the list further says. He is ranked 8th in terms of net addition.
HCL’s Shiv Nadar is ranked 3rd with USD 28 billion. He is followed by Cyrus Poonawala (of Serum Institute of India) at USD 26 billion and Lakshmi Mittal at USD 25 billion.
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India has 215 billionaires, as compared to 716 in America and 1133 in China. Indian billionaires account for 8 percent of the world’s known billionaires, up from 4.9 percent 5 years ago.
In February, Adani had overtaken Ambani for a day to become India’s and Asia’s richest man.
