Explained: How Did THIS Indian Businessman Become Asia’s Richest Man

New Delhi: Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani has raced past Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani to emerge as Asia’s richest man. He pipped Reliance Industries’ Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, who had held the spot since 2015.

Adani, who built his empire around the businesses of coal mining, electricity and ports before venturing into data centers and airports management, has seen his net worth soar 121% to $74.5 billion in 2021.

According to Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Adani’s wealth had stood at $88.8 billion on Tuesday (November 23). On the other hand, Ambani’s net wealth stood at $91 billion.

But on Wednesday (November 24), shares of Reliance Industries Limited dropped by 1.77% while the shares jumped 2.34%, closing in on the difference between the net wealth of Adani and Ambani.

But how did Adani race ahead of Ambani?

There has been significant increase in Adani’s net worth since 2020, especially after the blockbuster performance of his renewable energy company, Adani Green, on Indian bourses.

In March 2020, Adani’s net worth was $4.91 billion. Within 20 months, his net worth reached $83.89 billion that is an increase of over 1808 per cent. For the sake of comparison, Mukesh Ambani’s net worth increased by 250 per cent.

In 2021, Adani saw an increase of more than $50 billion in his net worth, while Ambani’s rose by $21.8 billion.

Adani’s wealth has grown manifold in the last few years, especially after the blockbuster performance of his renewable energy company, Adani Green, on Indian bourses.

While Ambani’s net wealth has been dented a bit after the cancellation of the Reliance-Aramco deal. RIL recently announced the cancellation of its de-merger of O2C business as Aramco who was expected to invest 20 per cent in this de-merged business has decided to re-evaluate the proposed investment.

As per ET Now, Reliance Industries was under pressure after it decided to re-evaluate its stake sale to Saudi Aramco. It closed 1.48 per cent lower at Rs 2,350.90. On the contrary, Adani group stocks were trading on an upward trajectory. Adani Enterprises closed 2.76 per cent higher at Rs 1,754.65 on Wednesday and Adani Ports closed 4.59 per cent higher at Rs 762.75.

As pointed out by the online publication Moneycontrol, the Adani Enterprises chairman went past the Reliance Industries chairman on the basis of the group market cap.

Among the other prominent Indian names in the billionaires’ index are Wipro chairman Azim Premji (34th place), HCL founder Shiv Nadar (54th place) and D-Mart founder Radhakishan Damani (64th place).