Gautam Adani briefly acquired 2nd spot in world’s real-time billionaires list, pushed back to 3rd position

New Delhi, September 16

Business conglomerate Adani Group’s chairman Gautam Adani, for a brief time, became the world’s second-richest person after overtaking Louis Vuitton’s Bernard Arnault earlier on Friday, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.

Gautam Adani’s net worth was USD 153.9 billion, compared to Arnault’s net worth of USD 153.7 billion. The spot, however, was short-lived as he was pushed back to the third position by Arnault.

Gautam Adani is a first-generation entrepreneur and the Adani Group comprises 7 publicly listed entities with businesses spanning energy, ports and logistics, mining and resources, gas, defence and aerospace and airports. The Group has established a leadership position in India in each of its business areas.

The Adani Group is the third largest conglomerate (after Reliance Industries and the Tata Group) in India.

Listed Adani group companies are Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Transmission.

Over the past 5 years, flagship company Adani Enterprises has invested heavily in new growth sectors that include airports, cement, copper refining, data centres, green hydrogen, petrochemical refining, roads and solar cell manufacturing.

Looking ahead, it plans to foray into the telecom space and has massive plans to grow its green hydrogen and airports businesses.

Recently, the Group also announced plans to set up a 4.1 mtpa integrated alumina refinery and a 30 mtpa iron ore beneficiation plant in Odisha that could cost over Rs 580 billion.

His group has committed USD 70 billion for green energy infrastructure.

As corporate social responsibility toward the community, the Adani Group had decided to contribute Rs 60,000 crore towards charitable activities related to healthcare, education, and skill development, focussing mainly on rural India, he told shareholders at the group’s Annual General Meeting held in late July.