Gautam Adani now 30th on global rich list; net worth slips below $40 bn

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Gautam Adani’s net worth has dropped below the $40 billion mark as of Monday
• The gap between Adani and his rival Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is widening
• US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate of indulging in stock manipulation and accounting fraud

Gautam Adani personal wealth: Billionaire owner of the embattled ports-to-power conglomerate Adani Group, Gautam Adani, has now slipped to the 30th spot on the global rich list. His net worth has dropped below the $40 billion mark as of Monday.

Gautam Adani has a total personal wealth of $39.9 billion, as per Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index. According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires Index, however, the hard-pressed tycoon is at the 37th spot and has a net worth of $33.7 billion.

The gap between Adani and his rival Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is widening. Adani’s personal fortune is almost half of Mukesh Ambani’s wealth. Ambani is currently at the 10th spot on the Bloomberg global rich list and has a net worth of $81.7 billion. As per Forbes, the Reliance Industries chairman has a net worth of $84.1 billion and ranks eighth in the global rich list.

The drop in Gautam Adani’s personal wealth and Adani Group shares began after the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate of indulging in stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The short seller also accused the Adani Group of having substantial debt, indulging in share pledging, and having a precarious financial footing apart from running shell companies out of Mauritius, and round-tripping funds.

It also accused Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani of allegedly managing a network of offshore entities to facilitate fraud. The conglomerate has refuted Hindenburg’s charges and said these allegations were made with mala fide intentions and lack credibility. It added that this was a selective, manipulative, and incomplete disclosure of information and that Hindenburg did not do enough research.

Seven out of the top BSE500 losers since January 24 are Adani Group stocks. Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, and Adani Enterprises were down 81 per cent, 75 per cent, 74 per cent, and 61 per cent respectively since January 24.

Also read: Adani Enterprises, RIL, DMart: Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani, Radhakishan Damani are 3 worst-hit billionaires in 2023 so far

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