Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. file | Photo Credit: Reuters
Indian tycoon Gautam Adani has been dropped from the list 10 richest people in the world After the fall in the company’s stock prices after US based short seller Hindenburg Research report,
With a current net worth of $84.4 billion, Mr Adani’s ranking has slipped from fourth to 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, wiping off $34 billion of personal wealth in just three trading days.
Read also: Fraud cannot be obscured by nationalism, Adani’s response ignores key questions, says Hindenburg
Adani Group shares have taken a hit in the stock market after a Hindenburg report made a flurry of allegations. fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, in the Gautam Adani-led group. The allegations have been dismissed by the group.
Shares of most of the Adani group firms were trading in the negative territory on January 31 morning.
For the fourth day running, Adani Total Gas shares gained 10%, Adani Green Energy 9.60%, Adani Transmission 8.62%, Adani Wilmar (5%), Adani Power (4.98%), NDTV (4.98%) and Adani Ports declined. (1.45%) on BSE.
Currently, he is behind ten other billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, who has a net worth of $82.2 billion, is behind him at the 12th position.
Read also: Adani Group says Hindenburg Research report is motivated by an ulterior motive
Adani Group shares fell up to 20% on Friday after Hindenburg made damaging allegations. The stock market remained closed on Thursday on account of Republic Day.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) issued a statement saying that its investment in the group is safe.
“Our total holding in Adani group companies under equity and debt is ₹36,474.78 crore. It was ₹35,917.31 crore as on December 31, 2022. The total purchase price of these equities of group companies bought over the past several years is ₹30,127 crore and has a market value of ₹30,127 crore at the end of market hours on January 27. 2023 was ₹56,142 crore,” said LIC.
Punjab National Bank (PNB), which has investments of around ₹7,000 crore in Adani group entities, said it is closely monitoring the developing situation.
LIC stock fell 0.82% on January 31 morning, while PNB climbed 3.74%.
Prashant Tapase – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd. said, “Markets will be closely watching Adani Enterprises’ Rs 20,000 crore follow-on share sale and traders will be keen to know whether it will be successful.”
In the broader market, the 30-share BSE benchmark ended 198.15 points, or 0.33%, lower at 59,302.26.
(with inputs from agencies)