Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group, has fallen from the third richest person in the world on 17 January to not even being in the top 20 on Friday, 3 February 2023.
Gautam Adani's net worth has plummeted from $124 billion on January 17 to $61.3 billion as of Friday,
dropping him to 21st place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group, has fallen from the third richest person in the world on 17 January 2023 to not even being in the top 20 on Friday, 3 February. Adani's net worth has plummeted from $124 billion on January 17 to $61.3 billion as of Friday. Adani's fortune has plummeted as a result of the Adani Group companies losing $108 billion in market value since Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud in a report on January 24. He is now ranked 21st on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Gautam Adani, once the richest man in India and Asia, is now India's second-richest man and Asia's third-richest Asian. Hindenburg, a US-based short seller, revived old doubts about corporate governance at the Adani conglomerate with its 103-page scathing report. Adani's lengthy 412-page rebuttal has failed to reassure investors, as Adani Group companies' stocks continue to fall almost daily. Following Hindernburg's allegations, Adani has gone from being the richest person in the world in 2022 to being the richest person in the world this year, according to Bloomberg.
The Hindenburg allegations have opened up a can of worms for the Adani Group
Earlier, bonds of the Adani group's flagship firm fell to distressed levels in US trading, and the company abruptly canceled a record domestic stock offering after Adani group shares fell $92 billion. As a result, Swiss lender Credit Suisse stopped accepting bonds issued by Adani group companies as collateral for margin lending on Wednesday. Citigroup Inc.'s wealth management division has also stopped accepting securities from Gautam Adani's group of companies as collateral for margin loans, as banks tighten their scrutiny of Adani's finances. "We have seen a dramatic price drop of Adani-issued securities in recent days," Citigroup said in an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. "Stock and bond prices have plummeted in response to the group's financial health news."
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is reportedly seeking information about lenders' exposures to the Adani Group, a day after the conglomerate canceled its Rs 20,000-crore follow-on-public-offer (FPO) of its flagship firm Adani Enterprises due to a steep drop in its stock prices. It is worth noting that India's largest lender, SBI, has stated that its exposure to the Adani group is fully secured by cash-generating assets. Bank of Baroda, another public sector lender, has stated that its total exposure to the troubled group is Rs 7,000 crore, which is also fully secured.