Gautam Adani emerges as 2nd richest Indian after Mukesh Ambani

New Delhi: With over INR 5,05,900 crore, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani has emerged as the second richest Indian after Reliance Industries’ Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, as per IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021.

“With INR 5,05,900 crore, Gautam Adani & family moved up two places to the second spot in the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021.”

The Adani group has a combined market capitalisation of Rs 9 lakh crore, and except Adani Power, all listed companies are valued at more than a lakh crore.

“Gautam Adani is the only Indian to build not one, but five Rs 1 lakh crore companies,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.

Ranking-wise, the list pointed out that Reliance Industries’ Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani continued to be the richest man in India for the 10th consecutive year with a wealth of Rs 7,18,000 crore.

Interestingly, the 2021 list features some 46 founders of 26 mostly unicorns.

Shiv Nadar of HCL retained the third rank, as HCL’s limited exposure to Covid-affected segments such as travel, retail and hospitality resulted in a 67 percent increase in his wealth to Rs 2,36,600 crore.

For the 12 months that ended in December 2020, HCL became only the third Indian IT company to break through the $10 billion revenue mark.

Moreover, India achieved the milestone of having over 1,000 individuals with net worth of Rs 1,000 crore.

The 2021 list revealed that 1,007 individuals across 119 cities have a net worth of Rs 1,000 crore. It cited that cumulative wealth was up 51 per cent, while average wealth increased by 25 per cent.

The report showed that 894 individuals saw their wealth increase or stay the same, of which 229 are new faces, while 113 saw their wealth drop and there were 51 dropouts. Currently, India has 237 billionaires, up 58 compared to last year.

“While chemicals’ and software sectors added the greatest number of new entrants to the list, pharma is still at number one and has contributed 130 entrants to the list. The youngest in the list is aged 23, three years younger than the youngest last year.”

(IANS inputs)