Gautam Adani slips off list of world's top 10 richest people

Jan 31, 2023

Indian tycoon Gautam Adani has slipped out of the list of the world's top 10 richest people following a rout in company share prices in the aftermath of the U.S.-based short seller Hindenburg Research's report.

With a current fortune of $84.4 billion, Mr. Adani's ranking has fallen from fourth place to 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a personal wealth wipeout of $34 billion in just three trading days.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg in a report made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, at the Gautam Adani-led group. The allegations have been rejected by the group.

Shares of most of the Adani Group firms were trading in the negative territory on Jan. 31 morning.

For the fourth day running, shares of Adani Total Gas tanked 10%, Adani Green Energy tumbled 9.60%, Adani Transmission declined 8.62%, Adani Wilmar (5%), Adani Power (4.98%), NDTV (4.98%) and Adani Ports (1.45%) on the BSE.

Currently, he is behind ten other billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman Mukesh Ambani, whose net worth is $82.2 billion, is tagging behind him at the No. 12 slot.

On Friday, Adani Group stocks fell up to 20% after Hindenburg made damaging allegations. Stock markets were closed on Thursday on account of Republic Day.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) issued a statement saying its investments in the group are safe.

"Our total holding in the Adani Group companies under equity and debt on date is ₹36,474.78 crore. This was ₹35,917.31 crore as of December 31, 2022. Total purchase value of these equities of the group companies, bought over the past many years, is ₹30,127 crore and the market value for the same at close of market hours on January 27, 2023 was ₹56,142 crore," LIC said.

Punjab National Bank (PNB), which has about ₹7,000 crore exposure in Adani Group entities, however, said it is keeping a close watch on the developing situation.

LIC stock fell 0.82% on Jan. 31 morning, while PNB climbed 3.74%.

"Markets will keep an eye on Adani Enterprises' ₹20,000 crore follow-on share sale and traders will be keen to know if it will sail through," said Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

In the broader market, the 30-share BSE benchmark quoted 198.15 points or 0.33% lower at 59,302.26.

(With inputs from agencies)