Gautam Adani steals the show again! Pips Ambani to become richest Indian in 2022

Despite the year seeing a sharp depreciation in the rupee amid the weak global macroeconomic conditions, the combined wealth of India’s 100 richest people grew $25 billion to touch $800 billion in 2022, according to
Forbes India.

After a record-breaking innings in 2021, business tycoon Gautam Adani stole the show yet again, as his burgeoning wealth has changed the pecking order at the top for the first time since 2008.

Adani doubled his fortune in 2022 to $150 billion to become the richest man in India, and for a brief period, the second richest person on the planet! This is after nearly tripling his wealth in 2021.

Being the biggest gainer in both percentage and dollar terms this year, Adani recently announced a mega $100 billion investment plan over the next decade, 70% of which will be in green energy.

Adani comfortably pipped

Ltd’s Mukesh Ambani, who has worn India’s richest man’s hat for a long time. Ambani’s wealth declined by 5% from last year to $88 billion.

However, Adani and Ambani now account for 30% of the total wealth of India’s 100 richest.

Stock market veteran Radhakishan Damani, who also runs the DMart chain of supermarkets in the country, ranked 3rd on the billionaires’ list for the first time ever, even as his net worth declined 6% to $27.6 billion.

Meanwhile, bumper COVID-19 vaccine sales for the second year pushed Serum Institute of India’s Cyrus Poonawalla to the 4th position with a net worth of $21.5 billion.

New Entrants

Some new-age technology companies have not seen the best of the days in the stock market, but they have definitely helped their owners enter the 100 richest list in 2022.

One among them is FSN-Ecommerce Ltd’s Falguni Nayar, who launched the ‘Nykaa’ brand for beauty products after quitting her job as an investment banker. With a fortune of $4.08 billion, Nayar is 44th richest person in India.

Ravi Modi, the promoter of

, which owns the popular brand ‘Manyavar’ and made its debut in the stock market in February this year, also joined the elite club of billionaires. With a net worth of $3.75 billion, Modi was the 50th most richest person in the country.

Wealth Losers

Among the people who saw significant wealth erosion was fintech firm

owner Vijay Shekhar Sharma, amid the rout in global technology giants against the backdrop of recession worries in the US.

Byju Raveendran, who runs the popular edutech platform Byju’s, also saw a decline in his net worth.

Several pharmaceutical companies owners such as Divi’s Laboratories’ Murli Divi, Alkem Laboratories’ Singh family, Cipla’s Yusuf Hamied were among the list of net worth losers.

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