The Adani Group chief recently surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the second richest person in the world. In the last 1 year, Adani’s wealth has more than doubled (116%).
All stocks of the Adani Group companies have had a dream run at the stock markets in the last 2 years with some of them surging over 1,000%. Last week, the market value of all listed stocks of Adani Group firms pipped Tata Group and Reliance to become India’s most valued company with a total market capitalisation of Rs 22.27 lakh crore.
India’s second richest man and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani’s wealth surged by 11% during the past year. His wealth is pegged at Rs 7.94 lakh crore and has increased by 115% in the last five years, the report said.
In fact, both Adani and Ambani are the biggest gainers in terms of absolute wealth, the Hurun India report noted.
For the first time in 10 years, Ambani lost the top ranking despite 11% jump in wealth.
Interestingly, cumulative wealth growth of the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022 excluding Gautam Adani is only 2.67%, compared to the overall 9% growth.
The Rs 5 lakh crore catch up
In 2021, Mukesh Ambani was ahead of Adani by Rs 2 lakh crore in terms of total net worth. Whereas, in 2022, Adani is ahead of Ambani by Rs 3 lakh crore.
“From an Indian wealth creation perspective, 2022 will be remembered for Adani’s meteoric rise,” said Anas Rashid Junaid, MD and chief researcher of Hurun India.
In fact, Adani is the only person to have built ont one, but 7 companies with market capitalisation of over Rs 1 lakh crore, Junaid added.
In 2012, Adani’s wealth was hardly one-sixth of Ambani’s wealth. In 10 years, he is ahead of Ambani by a good margin.
“The success of a first-generation entrepreneur like Adani exemplifies the potential for growth in an economy that is witnessing economies of scale in many unexploited sectors and the paradigm shift in the generation of new wealth,” Junaid said.
The mining-to-energy conglomerate has promised to invest $70 billion in green energy and become the world’s largest renewables producer.
Other biggest gainers
Vaccine maker Cyrus S Poonawalla moved up 3 places in the richest rankings after his wealth increased by 25% in last 1 year. He is the third richest Indian at present with a net worth of Rs 41,700 crore. Poonawalla’s Serum Institute played a crucial role in developing a vaccine against Covid-19.
Shiv Nadar of HCL Technologies moved down 1 rank to the 4th spot after his wealth declined by 21% to Rs 1.85 lakh crore. While, Avuenue Supermarts chairman Radhakishan Damani moved up 2 ranks to take the 5th spot.
Sun Pharma chairman Dilip Shanghavi and Kotak Mahindra Bank head Uday Kotak made their place back in India’s top 10 richest ranking.
Three families, Shiv Nadar & family, SP Hinduja & family and LN Mittal & family, have reported a decline in wealth but still find a place in the top 10.
Meanwhile, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group and Jay Chaudhary of Zscaler have fallen out of the top 10 list.
How ranks changed in 5 years
The Hurun India report compared performance of people in the rich list in 2022 to that of those in 2018 to show how some billionaires scaled up significantly and surged ahead as their companies created wealth at an unprecedented speed.
Gautam Adani is the obvious topper of the chart as his rank jumped from 8 in 2018 to the number one spot as his wealth increased 15.4 times. While, his brother Vinod moved up from the 49th spot to the 6th spot in rankings.
With 2.8 times rise in wealth in last 5 years, Cyrus Poonawalla moved from rank 7 in 2018 to rank 3 at present.
Notable debuts
Zepto founders Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra made a stellar debute in IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022. Both of them are also the youngest start-up founders in the Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022.
Rangarajan S of Data Patterns (DP) became the first defence and aerospace entrepreneur to feature in the list. His total wealth stood at Rs 2,700 crore. Rangarajan started DP in 1985 using personal computers in non-data processing applications.
The Chennai-based company now makes nanosatellites to ground receiving systems, avionics for Tejas light combat aircraft; launch control systems for Sukhoi 30 aircraft; actuator pins for torpedoes; rugged display systems for helicopters; electronic warfare systems; electronic intelligence and communication intelligence receivers (ELINT and COMINT); landing support radars.
Nykaa’s Falguni Nayar and Vedant Fashions’ Ravi Modi entered the top 100 richest list for first time.
Falguni Nayar saw her wealth increase by 345% and her rank moved up by 169 to the 33rd. Similarly, Ravi Modi saw his wealth increase by 376% and he moved up 205 ranks to claim the 41st position in the list.
Top industries
The pharma industry has greatly benefited from the pandemic-induced need for vaccines and increased focus on drugs. Consequently, the sector contributed highest number of individuals to the Hurun India rich list.
Cyrus S Poonawalla & family lead the pharma entrepreneurs with his wealth increasing by 25% in the last year to touch Rs 2.05 lakh crore. While, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceutical saw his wealth increase by 12% to Rs 1.33 lakh crore.
With 20 new additions, the Chemicals & Petrochemicals industry continues to be a leader in wealth creation and has 102 entrants. There are 23-dollar billionaires from this sector.