NEW DELHI: Gautam Adani – who was the third richest man at the beginning of the year – has fell out of the world’s top ten richest list.
As of January 30, Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, is now the 11th-richest man in the world.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gautam Adani’s fortune fell to 84.4 billion USD from 121 billion USD.
This fall in fortune of Gautam Adani has been attributed to the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research that release of a 100-page report.
The Hindenburg report accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation, poor governance and “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.
Shares in Adani companies have plummeted since then, wiping out 75 billion USD in value.
Notably, if Adani’s fortune continues to drop, he risks losing the position of Asia’s richest person to Mukesh Ambani, who currently sits at 12th spot in the list of world’s richest.
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Gautam Adani’s wealth surged in 2022 due to an increase in share price in Adani Group companies.
Shares in commodity trader Adani Enterprises, the Group’s flagship company, rose by over 225% over 2022, while shares in Adani Power rose by 300% over the same period.
Hindenburg’s report “is not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India”, the Adani Group wrote in its 413-page response to the accusations.
Hindenburg Research delivered a fiery rebuttal the following day, arguing that “the Adani Group has attempted to conflate its meteoric rise and the wealth of its Chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself”.
“India’s future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation,” wrote the firm, continuing that the Adani Group failed to give specific answers to most of its questions, instead only offering “generalized deflections”.