Gautam Adani adds $49 billion wealth in 2021, higher than Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk

Gautam Adani, India's and Asia's second-richest person, added USD 49 billion to his wealth last year - more than the net addition of wealth by the top three global billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, the 2022 M3M Hurun Global Rich List said on Wednesday.

Mukesh Ambani, who runs the oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries, continues to be the richest Indian with a wealth of USD 103 billion, a 24 per cent rise year-on-year.

Adani, the head of ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, is a close second with his wealth surging 153 per cent to USD 81 billion.

In the last 10 years, while Ambani's wealth has grown 400 per cent, Adani has seen a 1,830 per cent increase, the list said.

HCL's Shiv Nadar is ranked third with USD 28 billion wealth, followed by Serum Institute's Cyrus Poonawalla (USD 26 billion) and steel magnate Lakshmi N Mittal (USD 25 billion).

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"Gautam Adani, 59, is the biggest gainer in the M3M Hurun Global List 2022 and added USD 49 billion to his wealth last year," M3M Hurun Global Rich List said in a statement.

His net wealth addition is "more than top three global billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault."

After the listing of renewable energy company Adani Green, his wealth increased nearly five times to USD 81 billion from USD 17 billion in 2020.

Ambani's wealth grew by USD 20 billion in 2021, it said.

Nykaa founder Falguni Nayar (USD 7.6 billion) is the wealthiest new entrant in the Hurun Global Rich List 2022.

The 2022 M3M Hurun Global Rich List ranked 3,381 billionaires from 2,557 companies and 69 countries, the statement said.

Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher said India ranks third based on not only the number of billionaires but also in terms of the number of billionaires who have added at least a billion-dollar to their wealth.

"Over the last 10 years, Indian billionaires added circa USD 700 billion to their cumulative wealth - this is equivalent to Switzerland's GDP and twice the GDP of the UAE!," he said.

India, he said, has 18 per cent of the world's population and 8 per cent of the world's 'known' billionaires, up from 4.9 per cent five years ago.

India has 215 billionaires compared to 1,133 Chinese billionaires and 716 Americans.

The statement said Adani is the biggest wealth gainer in the 2022 list, followed by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and founder and CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault (USD 39 billion addition).

Ambani is ranked 8th in terms of wealth addition.

According to the List, Ambani's wealth was USD 45 billion five years back and USD 20.5 billion 10 years ago. Adani was worth USD 8.8 billion 10 years back and USD 14 billion five years back.

With a net worth of USD 23 billion each, Radhakishan Damani of Avenue Supermarts and SP Hinduja of Hinduja entered into the top 100 in 2022 M3M Hurun Global Rich List for the first time.