Indian tycoon Gautam Adani has slipped out of the list of the world’s top 10 richest people following a rout in company share prices in the aftermath of the U.S.-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s report.
With a current fortune of $84.4 billion, Mr. Adani’s ranking has fallen from fourth place to 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a personal wealth wipeout of $34 billion in just three trading days.
Also read: Warning bells: On the Adani saga
Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg in a report made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, at the Gautam Adani-led group. The allegations have been rejected by the group.
Shares of most of the Adani Group firms were trading in the negative territory on Jan. 31 morning.
Also read: Fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism, Adani response ignores key questions, says Hindenburg
For the fourth day running, shares of Adani Total Gas tanked 10%, Adani Green Energy tumbled 9.60%, Adani Transmission declined 8.62%, Adani Wilmar (5%), Adani Power (4.98%), NDTV (4.98%) and Adani Ports (1.45%) on the BSE.
Currently, he is behind ten other billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman Mukesh Ambani, whose net worth is $82.2 billion, is tagging behind him at the No. 12 slot.
Also read: Hindenburg Research report driven by an ulterior motive, says Adani Group
On Friday, Adani Group stocks fell up to 20% after Hindenburg made damaging allegations. Stock markets were closed on Thursday on account of Republic Day.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) issued a statement saying its investments in the group are safe.
“Our total holding in the Adani Group companies under equity and debt on date is ₹36,474.78 crore. This was ₹35,917.31 crore as of December 31, 2022. Total purchase value of these equities of the group companies, bought over the past many years, is ₹30,127 crore and the market value for the same at close of market hours on January 27, 2023 was ₹56,142 crore,” LIC said.
Punjab National Bank (PNB), which has about ₹7,000 crore exposure in Adani Group entities, however, said it is keeping a close watch on the developing situation.
LIC stock fell 0.82% on Jan. 31 morning, while PNB climbed 3.74%.
“Markets will keep an eye on Adani Enterprises’ ₹20,000 crore follow-on share sale and traders will be keen to know if it will sail through,” said Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.
In the broader market, the 30-share BSE benchmark quoted 198.15 points or 0.33% lower at 59,302.26.
(With inputs from agencies)
