Billionaire Gautam Adani’s net worth has surpassed China’s Zong Shanshan wealth and that makes him the second richest person in Asia, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries chairman, in February, overtook Shanshan to become the richest Asian.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Ambani, the wealthiest Indian, is at 13th spot in the list of rich people in the world, followed by GautamAdani at 14th place. Chinese billionaire Shanshan stumbled down to the 15th richest person after both the Indian billionaires’ wealth outclassed his wealth.
As per the Index, the Adani Group chief’s net worth is at $66.5 billion against Zhong Shanshan’s $63.6 billion. Gautam Adani is now only a position behind his Indian competitor and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman, Mukesh Ambani, in terms of the most wealth owned by an individual in Asia.
The net worth of Mukesh Ambani stands at $76.5 billion. However, a decline by $175.5 million has been observed in his total wealth as per the index.
Gautam Adani began his career as a commodity trader. But, now his business has proliferated into the fields of energy, ports, airports, logistics, agriculture, real estate, financial services, FMCG, gas distribution and defence, among others.
The rise in Adani’s wealth could be observed when the share prices of Adani Enterprises, Adani Gas, Adani Green and Adani Transmission. Adani Total Gas share has increased 1145 per cent over 2020.
Meanwhile, Adani Enterprises, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Power grew 827 per cent, 617 per cent, 433 per cent and 189 per cent, respectively.
Recently, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) gave its nod to the proposed acquisition of a 25 per cent additional stake in Adani Krishnapatnam Port Ltd by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd.
The Adani group already owns 75 per cent of shares in Adani Krishnapatnam Port.
In September 2020, Adani Group took over the Mumbai International Airport from the GVK group. It also acquired a controlling stake in the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport.