In the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, has surpassed Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, to become the richest Indian. Adani has risen to 12th place, surpassing Ambani, who is now 13th. Adani’s total net worth has increased to $97.6 billion, while Ambani’s net worth stands at $97.0 billion. Both billionaires have climbed up on the list.
The majority of Adani’s wealth arises from the Adani group’s six listed entities. According to Bloomberg, the companies and stakes are as follows: Adani Power (70%); Adani Total Gas (37%); Adani Energy Solutions (73%); Adani Ports (66%); and Adani Green Energy (56%).
This comes just one day after Adani Group shares surged, boosting Gautam Adani’s net worth by $7.67 billion. Gautam Adani’s wealth has grown by $13.3 billion year to date (YTD), the most among the world’s top 100 billionaires.
“The comeback of the first-generation entrepreneur, who started off as a diamond trader in the 1980s, caps an eventful year for Adani’s ports-to-power conglomerate. Despite denying Hindenburg’s allegations of corporate fraud, the Adani Group lost more than $150 billion in market value last year and spent months wooing back investors, lenders, repaying debt, and assuaging regulatory concerns,” the Bloomberg report reads.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to order an investigation into Adani Group by a special investigation team (SIT) or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a major relief to the business house, in response to allegations of fraud, misgovernance, and stock price manipulation levelled by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
The court said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is conducting a “comprehensive investigation” that “inspires confidence.” It ordered that the investigation be completed within three months. Thus far, SEBI has concluded its investigation into 22 of 24 items.
As reported earlier, the Supreme Court order stated that the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) report could not be used to cast doubt on the SEBI probe. It stated that reliance on the OCCPR report is rejected and that reliance on a third-party organisation report without any verification cannot be relied on as proof.
Adani-Hindenberg row
In January last year, Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of fraud and stock price manipulation. The charges were denied by Gautam Adani. Also, no regulatory failure was found by the expert committee which was constituted by the Supreme Court.
In May of last year, a 6-member expert panel had failed to find any wrongdoing on SEBI’s part regarding Adani Group. The committee concluded that the Adani Group has disclosed the information of all the beneficial owners of the business. The report also listed all the details of these beneficial owners as obtained from SEBI.
The Adani Group had trashed the Hindenburg Research report as a ‘malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations’. The court reportedly refused to order an SIT probe on the allegations made by short-seller Hindenburg. It added that there is no evidence that SEBI was negligent in taking action and no reason to suggest any conflict of interest on SEBI’s part.