Gautam Adani slips to 15th in global rich list

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, who stood at the 10th spot on the Forbes Real-time billionaire list for 2023 after being overtaken by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday, further slipped and came to the 15th spot on the list.

According to the Forbes list, Adani's current net worth is USD 75.1 billion while it was USD 83.9 billion earlier during the day.

Earlier in the day, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has overtaken Adani to become the richest Indian in the world with a net worth of USD 84.3 billion, according to Forbes Real-time billionaire list for 2023. Ambani overtook Adani after the Reliance Industries Chairman's assets went up 0.19 per cent with an increase of wealth by USD 164 million while Gautam Adani's assets had gone down by 4.62 per cent with the industrialist's wealth pegged at USD 84.1 billion according to the real-time tracker of Forbes of 5 pm EST on Tuesday.

Adani who figured among the top three billionaires in the world has dropped in the ranking to number 10 just below Mukesh Ambani. At the top of the list is French luxury fashion giant's LMVH's Bernard Arnault and family. In December 2022, Louis Vuitton's founder and CEO Bernard Arnault overtook Elon Musk as the world's richest person.

However, these values fluctuate constantly. If there is a gain in Adani's stock, it is expected Adani's personal wealth will rise too. This comes following a report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research on the Adani Group alleging a decades-long fraud scheme, "brazen accounting fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering."

The Adani Group, however, said it was mulling legal options in the US and India against Hindenburg Research after its report accused firms owned by Gautam Adani of market manipulation and accounting fraud. In a sharp and focused response to Hindenburg Research's report on its businesses, the Adani Group responded to all 88 questions raised by Hindenburg including the young age of its auditors.

Hindenburg then hit back stating that the Adani Group's accusations are "baseless. "Shares of Adani Group firms fell in morning trade today. However, the key market indices opened with gains as investors' sentiments were boosted over Union Budget expectations.

Shares of Adani Enterprises, the flagship firm of the group, fell 3.02 per cent to Rs 2,880.20 apiece on the BSE. In a span of five days, the shares were down 15 per cent. Adani Green declined 3.82 per cent to Rs 1,177.15 apiece and the shares had fallen about 38 per cent in a span of five days.