New Delhi: Gautam Adani has become the second richest person in the world. Now after Elon Musk is on the list of top 10 billionaires of the world, Gautam Adani is now the only one. Gautam Adani has overtaken Bernard Arnault to achieve this position in the Forbes Real Time Billionaire Index. However, he is still in third place on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
According to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires Index, as of this afternoon, Adani’s wealth had increased by $ 5.5 billion. Now he has become the world’s billionaire number two with $ 155.7 billion. Above him i.e. in the number one position is Elon Musk, who has a net worth of $ 273.5 billion. After Adani, Bernard Arnault is at number three with a net worth of $ 155.2 billion. If we talk about Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, then he is at number eight on this list with $ 92.6 billion.
Where is Adani’s money coming from?
The bulk of Adani’s wealth derives from its public stake in the Adani Group from which it was founded. According to a March 2022 stock exchange filing, he holds a 75% stake in Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Transmission. He owns about 37% of Adani Total Gas, 65% of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones, and 61% of Adani Green Energy. All these companies are publicly traded and based in Ahmedabad.
Adani’s story
According to Bloomberg, Adani is the largest port operator, thermal coal producer, and coal trader in India. Gautam Adani was born in Gujarat. He moved to Mumbai as a teenager after leaving college and worked in the diamond business before returning to his home state.
He started his global business with the import of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) for his brother’s plastics business. In 1988, he established Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship company for the import and export of goods.
Adani Enterprises took approval from the Gujarat government in 1994 to set up a port facility at Mundra Port to handle its own cargo. Seeing the potential in the project, Adani decided to convert it into a commercial port. He built rail and road connectivity by personally negotiating with over 500 landlords across India to build the largest port in India. Adani entered power generation in 2009.
According to the Mundra Port website, billionaire Adani was kidnapped by bandits for ransom in 1997. According to the website, Adani was among the hostages at the Taj Hotel when terrorists attacked Mumbai.
Milestones in taking Adani to this milestone
- Gautam Adani was born in 1962 in Ahmedabad, India, in the western state of Gujarat.
- Worked as a diamond merchant in 1980 in Mumbai.
- Returned to Ahmedabad in 1981 to help his brother in his plastics factory.
- Established its flagship company, Adani Enterprises, in 1988.
- In 1994, received approval to set up a port at Mundra to handle the cargo of his company.
- In 1997, Adani was kidnapped and held hostage for ransom.
- Mundra Ports and Special Economic Zone started business in India in 2007.
- He narrowly survived the 2008 attack on the Taj Hotel in Mumbai.
- Adani Power started its business in India in 2009.
