With his total fortune standing at around $69 billion, Gautam Adani has secured the 14th spot at the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. However, in terms of wealth growth, he is the world’s second-fastest-growing billionaire, with the first being Bernard Arnaut, owner of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy). The latter added over $47.9 billion to his personal wealth this year, while Adani added around $35.2 billion.
The business ventures of Gautam Adani are diversified and widespread across several sectors including energy, ports, airports, logistics, agriculture, real estate, financial services, etc. The reason behind such a skyrocketing surge in his wealth is the series of acquisitions and investments that the Adani Group has been undertaking in the recent times.
The acquisition of around 31.5 per cent stake in Gangavaram Port is one such instance. APSEZ, a key subsidiary of the Group, is currently in talks to acquire about 58.1 per cent stake owned by the DVS Raju family in the same port.
Strengthening its global footprint in the port sector, APSEZ also partnered with John Keells Holding PLC for the development of West Container Terminal of Colombo Port in Sri Lanka.
While the Gautam Adani-led Group is already known for its port and power businesses, its new ventures include airports and data centres. Last year in September, it initiated majority stake acquisition of the Mumbai International Airport from the GVK Group.
Apart from Gautam Adani, other Indian billionaires too have added a billion or more to their personal wealth in 2021. Wipro's Azim Premji, Radhakishan Dmani of DMart, Pankaj Patel of Cadila and Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto are to name a few.
