India's Adani overtakes Ambani to claim top spot in Asia rich list

Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani has edged past fellow countryman Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s richest person.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani’s net worth reached $88.5 billion on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

It termed 59-year-old Adani “the world’s biggest wealth-gainer this year“, with an almost $12 billion jump in his personal fortune.

The report said the net worth of Ambani, the boss of oil-to-petrochemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, stood at $87.9 billion.

Adani, whose mine project in Australia has faced stiff opposition over environmental concerns, is riding high on his new green pledges, analysts say.

His empire boasts of aerospace, thermal energy and coal companies as well as ports. And now, the Adani Group founder is looking beyond “the fossil fuel for expansion“, the Bloomberg report said.

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Renewable energy

He has his eyes set on “renewable energy, airports, data centres and defence contracting“ — high priority areas for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government has launched a campaign for a “self-reliant“ India.

The group has spotted and entered the “happening sectors“ at the right time, the Bloomberg report quoted Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at Mumbai-based brokerage HDFC Securities Ltd., as saying.

The group is in the process of ploughing $70 billion into green energy projects by 2030 with the aim of becoming the world’s largest renewable-energy producer, a report in The Guardian said. 

“…his push into green energy has paid off handsomely in the past year with the listed company Adani Green Energy now his most valuable after its share price almost doubled in the past 12 months,“ it added.

Adani has witnessed a spectacular rise over the past few years.

His group controls the Mundra port in Gujarat state and owns 74 percent of Mumbai international airport — besides India’s largest power generator and city gas retailer in the non-state sector, according to media reports.

This mercurial success under the current dispensation has prompted India’s opposition parties, including the Congress, to level charges of “cronyism“ against Modi and his government.

Both the businessman and the government dismiss the charges.