Once among top 3, Gautam Adani slips to 30th spot in world’s richest list a month after Hindenburg report

Once among the top three world’s richest, Gautam Adani slipped to 30t position on the world billionaire index list after a US forensic audit firm Hindenburg Research released a report on January 24, 2023, alleging the Adani group of fraud and stock market manipulation.

The damping report triggered a massive sell-off in shares of Gautam Adani’s energy-to-airport group, plunging Adani’s wealth by more than US $80 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index list.

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Business tycoon Gautam Adani was the world's third and Asia's richest man a month back with a sprawling conglomerate, which spans from sea ports to airports, edible oil and commodities, energy, cement, and data centres.

He was worth US $120 billion before the Hindenburg report but now is ranked No.30 on the world billionaire index with about US $40 billion net worth.

The top three in the world’s richest list are, Bernard Arnault of Louis Vuitton with US $182 billion, followed by Tesla’s Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani is at the 10th position on the list with a US $ 81.7 billion net worth.

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Hindenburg, which held short positions in unidentified shares of Adani Group firms through its US-traded debt and offshore derivatives, accused the conglomerate of "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud" and using several offshore shell firms to inflate stock prices.

The Adani Group in its response has denied allegations, calling them malicious, baseless, and a calculated attack on India.

Since the Hindenburg report, the group's 10 listed companies have lost Rs 12.06 lakh crore, nearly equivalent to the market capitalisation of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) - India's second most valuable company.

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Adani Total Gas Ltd has lost 80.68 per cent of its market value while Adani Green Energy, where the French firm has also invested, has seen a 74.62 per cent loss.

Adani Transmission has lost 74.21 per cent in market value since January 24 while its flagship Adani Enterprises is down close to 62 per cent. Adani Power and Adani Wilmar as well as its cement units, media company NDTV and Adani Ports & SEZ too have lost market value.

With PTI Inputs