Gautam Adani has shown that his brief stint at the top of India’s rich lists wasn’t just a one-off — he’s again made it there.
Gautam Adani has once again overtaken Mukesh Ambani to become India’s richest man. As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani is currently worth $97.6 billion (Rs. 8.1 lakh crore), fractionally ahead of Mukesh Ambani, who’s worth $97 billion (Rs. 8.05 lakh crore). Adani saw his wealth soar after a Supreme Court judgement yesterday absolved him from wrongdoing in the Hindenburg allegations, which had claimed stock manipulation and accounting irregularities at his firms.
“The Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgement shows that: Truth has prevailed,” Adani posted on X after the ruling yesterday. “Satyameva Jayate. I am grateful to those who stood by us. Our humble contribution to India’s growth story will continue. Jai Hind,” he added.
The stock markets also responded to the news, and shares in Adani firms shot up, with some hitting the upper circuits. This surge in share prices has now propelled Adani past Ambani in the list of richest Indians.
This is in stark contrast to just last year, when a series of allegations by the short-selling Hindenburg Group had caused Adani group shares to plummet. Hindenburg had accused the Adani Group of prolonged stock manipulation and accounting irregularities, and hinted that the group had artificially inflated the value of its stocks. As the shares in his companies crashed, Adani’s personal net worth fell by a staggering 60 percent.
These speculations have now been laid to rest with the Supreme Court not finding any wrongdoing on Adani’s part, and he’s once again become India’s richest man. This comes more than a year after he’d first claimed the title of India’s richest man, and at one point had become the world’s third richest man, behind only Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. But as the Hindenburg allegations had appeared, Adani had dropped down the rich lists, at one point moving out of the list of the top 50 richest people in the world. But with him and his companies now exonerated, he’s back to being India’s richest man — and as the 12th richest current man in the world, is once again looking to break into the top 10.