Indian businessman surpasses Mukesh Ambani to become the richest man in Asia

Gautam Adani, the chairman and founder of the Ahmedabad-based multinational conglomerate ‘Adani Group’, has surpassed Reliance Industries’ chairman Mukesh Ambani to become the richest person in India as well as the whole of Asia.

As per reports, the stock of Adani’s companies, including Adani Total Gas, Adani Ports and Adani Green, has shot up in the last several months. Gautam Adani has added $55 billion to his fortunes on a year-to-date basis compared with Mukesh Ambani’s $14.3 billion. Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani’s net-worth reportedly suffered a minor loss after Reliance Industries scrapped its deal with Aramco, a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based out of Dhahran.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, “Gautam Adani’s wealth had stood at $88.8 billion on Tuesday (November 23), while Mukesh Ambani’s net wealth stood at $91 billion. However, on Wednesday (November 24), Ambani’s wealth fell by $1.32 billion, while Gautam Adani saw a $375 million rise in net worth.” Gautam Adani, who was born in Gujarat, dropped out of college as a teenager, and moved to Mumbai, where he worked in the diamond trade before returning to his home state.

Adani made his foray into global trading when he imported polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for his brother’s plastic business. In 1988, he set up Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship company, to import and export commodities. He reportedly owns “almost 75% of Adani Power, Adani Transmissions and Adani Total Gas, 64% of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone and 57% of Adani Green Energy.”