Gautam Adani Doubles Net Worth In A Year To Top Hurun Rich List
Gautam Adani's net worth has risen 116% in the last one year at Rs 10.94 lakh crore, according to Hurun India Rich List 2022.
Gautam Adani claimed the top spot on a rich list covering wealthiest Indians as his net worth doubled over the year, fuelled by soaring stock prices of his group companies and new acquisitions.
The billionaire, who is at the helm of the port-to-power conglomerate, saw a rise of 116% in the last one year at Rs 10.94 lakh crore, according to the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022 released on Wednesday.
In the last five years, Adani’s wealth has jumped 1,440%. The rise in market capitalisation of his seven listed companies has played a significant role in propelling this growth. The Indian industrialist has been involved in a spate of acquisitions across sectors ranging from cement to green energy and telecom.
Adani has interest across ports, airports, city gas distribution and mining, with operations in India and overseas. Adani Group recently completed the acquisition of Swiss cement maker Holcim’s stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd. in a $10.5-billion deal, becoming the second-largest manufacturer of the construction material in the country. The group has also promised to invest $70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest renewables producer.
The group, through Adani Data Networks Ltd., had acquired 400MHz of 5G spectrum for Rs 212 crore in an auction last month, aiming to use it for private networks to support its business centres and data centres.
Last week, Adani briefly overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the world’s second-richest.
Mukesh Ambani slipped to the second position on the Hurun rich list for the first time in 10 years. That even as his wealth increased 11% over the year earlier to Rs 7.95 lakh crore. In the last five years, his wealth surged 115%.
The Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman, however, is still among the four individuals who have made the top 10 on the India list after 10 years, along with ArcelorMittal’s Lakshmi Narayan Mittal, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s Dilip Sanghvi and HCL’s Shiv Nadar.
Meanwhile, Serum Institute’s Cyrus Poonwalla moved up three spots, with his wealth rising 25% in the last year. Dilip Sanghvi and Uday Kotak re-entered the top 10 on the Hurun rich list this year, replacing Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar Mangalam Birla and Jay Chaudhary of Zscaler.
New Entrants
The rich list added a record 149 new faces from 32 industries and 36 cities.
The chemicals and petrochemicals sector contributed the greatest number of new entrants with 20 new additions, followed by financial services (17) and software (12).
Asian Paints Ltd.’s Nehal Abhay Vakil topped the list of new additions, with her wealth at Rs 11,700 crore. She was appointed the non-executive director of India’s largest paintmaker after the death of her father Abhay Vakil in March this year.
Zepto’s Aadit Palicha (20) and Kaivalya Vohra (19) became the youngest to debut in the list. The two started the quick-commerce startup while they were quarantined in their Mumbai homes after dropping out of Stanford. Zepto became one of the fastest ‘soonicorns’, having raised funds at a $900-million valuation in May this year.
IPO Stars
A record year for IPOs in 2021, which saw over 55 issues raising over 1.06 lakh crore, also churned fresh entrants to the rich list.
Backed by the initial public offering of digital analytics company, LatentView Analytics, which was subscribed 326 times, AV Venkatraman (52) debuted in the list with a wealth of Rs 5,500 crore.
Specialty chemicals maker Aether Industries’ Ashwin Desai, too, registered a wealth of Rs 10,300 crore and debuted in the list.
Rakesh Kumar Verma of CE Info Systems Ltd., whose IPO was subscribed 154 times, secured the 371rd spot in the list with Rs 4,300-crore wealth.
Overall, it was the founder of a recently listed company that gained the most wealth in percentage terms.
Ravi Modi of Vedant Fashions Ltd., the owner of ethnic wear brand Manyavar, saw a 376% rise in his wealth to Rs 32,400 crore. Falguni Nayar & family’s flagship company, Nykaa, also grew 345% in the last year to report a wealth of Rs 38,700 crore.
Disclaimer: Adani Enterprises is in the process of acquiring a 49% stake in Quintillion Business Media Ltd., the owner of BQ Prime.