Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani has overtaken Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son to become Asia’s richest man, according to Forbes’ Real Time Billionaires list.
Adani’s net worth saw a massive rise to USD 89.2 billion, which is more than Ambani’s USD 88 billion and Masayoshi Son’s USD 87 billion.
This sharp rise in his net worth was led by a broader stock surge across companies under the umbrella of his Adani Group, including Adani Power (up 1.1 per cent), Adani Ports (1.9 per cent), Adani Enterprises (2.3 per cent), Adani Green Energy (6.9 per cent), and Adani Energy Solutions (3.8 per cent).
The combined market value across six Adani Group companies as of Friday stood at about $191 billion. The break-up includes Adani Power at $47.2 billion, followed by Adani Ports ($44.2 billion), Adani Enterprises ($44 billion), Adani Green Energy ($26.4 billion), Adani Energy Solutions ($19.9 billion) and Adani Total Gas ($8.8 billion).
The Forbes report observed that Gautam Adani’s fortune has increased by nearly USD 10 billion since the US Justice Department dismissed fraud charges against the Adani Group last month.
The conglomerate was accused of participating in a USD 250 million bribery scheme over solar energy supply contracts, a charge Adani and his co-executives denied.
Adani Group faced headwinds after US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the group of stock manipulation and widespread fraud in 2023.
However, the claims were rejected by Indian regulators last year, who said the allegations were “not established”.
The billionaire industrialist, in his annual letter to shareholders last month, said that the Adani Group has moved beyond its US legal challenges and is accelerating investments across energy, transport, logistics and digital infrastructure, positioning itself to benefit from rising demand for artificial intelligence-led growth.
He described the group’s recent Rs 24,930 crore rights issue in flagship firm Adani Enterprises as a vote of confidence from investors at a time when the conglomerate faced questions over governance and regulatory issues.
With agency inputs.