Mukesh Ambani, 4 others lose $21 bn in 2026 so far; Gautam Adani holds ground

Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji, Shiv Nadar, Shapoor Mistry and Sunil Mittal are five Indian billionaires who have lost nearly $21 billion in notional wealth in 2026 so far. Adani Group founder Gautam Adani’s fortunes remained largely unchanged, data publicly available on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index suggested.

Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person, has lost $10 billion in notional wealth this year. He was worth $97.7 billion at last count, following a steep 10.32 per cent drop in shares of flagship Reliance Industries Ltd year-to-date (YTD).

PL Capital said the oil-to-telecom major’s O2C segment is expected to deliver steady performance going ahead, supported by healthy diesel cracks amid resilient transportation fuel demand.

“In the near term, petchem profitability is likely to remain under pressure, though long-term fundamentals should improve with global capacity rationalisation. RJIL continues to be a key value-unlocking lever, backed by improving operational performance and a strong growth outlook,” it said.

In the absence of quantitative disclosures, it assigned a value of Rs 111 per share to the New Energy segment and suggested a target price of Rs 1,688 for RIL.

Azim Premji of Wipro, down $3.87 billion, and Shiv Nadar of HCL Technologies, down $2.93 billion, together lost $6.8 billion in notional wealth, as advances in AI tools raised fears of disruption in IT-BPM services businesses. Premji was worth $23.6 billion and Nadar $34.6 billion at last count.

The two IT stocks fell up to 21 per cent in 2026 so far amid investor fears that these vendors’ roles could dip materially following recent AI-led developments announced by software vendors such as Anthropic and Palantir.

“We acknowledge that the pace and scale of tech evolution led by AI is materially different and bigger this time against earlier ones. Also, this AI-led disruption will evolve at a fast clip as we move forward and at each phase of this evolution this fear could be re-visited,” Equirus Capital said.

It, however, believes the pessimism is extreme, resulting from cannibalisation worries and largely ignoring the scenario of new opportunities for IT service providers that have successfully acted as integrators in each phase of technology evolution.

Shapoor P Mistry, chairman of Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Pvt. Ltd, saw $2.32 billion fall in his notional wealth to $32.9 billion. The Shapoorji Pallonji Group is a stakeholder in Tata Sons.

Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal lost $1.4 billion notionally, taking his wealth to $28.3 billion. Bharti Airtel shares are down 6 per cent YTD. “From a long-term perspective, Bharti Airtel remains well-positioned for sustainable growth, backed by its strong digital services portfolio, disciplined capital management, and focus on high-value customer segments. The company expects gradual ARPU improvement, 4G and 5G expansion, and B2B growth to drive long-term profitability. We remain optimistic about its future growth,” Axis Securities said in a note. The brokerage suggested a target price of Rs 2,530.

Meanwhile, India’s second-richest person Gautam Adani’s wealth stood at $84.6 billion, up $122 million YTD. Gains in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd and Adani Power Ltd offset losses in other group stocks such as Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Green Energy Ltd, ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements Ltd.

Among the 24 Indian billionaires on the list, Lakshmi Mittal was the best performer, with his wealth rising $7.32 billion to $38.9 billion.