India's Gautam Adani, the world's 3rd richest, earned $40 billion this year

Mumbai Stock Exchange Surges Past 60,000
Group Stocks Soar, Assets Reach $110 Billion
US Billionaires' Wealth Declines Amid Tech Stock Slump

Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group
[Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] While the assets of American billionaires sharply declined due to the tech sector slump caused by the U.S. Federal Reserve's (Fed) aggressive tightening policy this year, Gautam Adani, chairman of India's Adani Group, saw his wealth increase thanks to the booming Indian stock market. Among the billionaires included in Bloomberg's Top 10 Billionaires Index, Adani is the only one whose assets have grown.

On the 27th (local time), Bloomberg cited its billionaire index, reporting that Adani's personal wealth increased by $40 billion (50.812 trillion KRW) this year, reaching a total of $110 billion. Considering that Adani's personal fortune was $57 billion last year, his asset size more than doubled in just one year. In August, Adani surpassed Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, to become the world's third-richest person.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that starting this year, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will overtake the United Kingdom to become the world's 5th largest economy. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) forecasts that by 2027, India will surpass Germany, and by 2029, even Japan, becoming the world's 3rd largest economy after the U.S. and China. While countries worry about recessions caused by rapid interest rate hikes, India is the only country accelerating its growth, attracting global liquidity. The fact that India's population surpassed 1.4 billion this year and is expected to overtake China as the most populous country next year, along with its history of producing a British Prime Minister during colonial times, has also drawn the attention of global investors.

Adani's wealth increase is attributed to the recent bullish trend in the Indian stock market. Amid global stock markets showing mixed performance due to inflation and economic downturns, India's benchmark index, the Mumbai Stock Exchange SENSEX, surged past the 60,000 mark in early last month, continuing its upward momentum. This is the third-highest increase among major stock indices, following Singapore and Indonesia. India has emerged as a market that can replace China since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Fueled by the stock market boom, the share price of Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, jumped 115% over the past year, boosting Adani's asset size. Adani Power's stock price also soared 186% within a year. The shares of India’s largest bank, India State Bank, rose 25% this year, and analysts expect a similar increase over the next 12 months.

The Adani Group is a major infrastructure conglomerate covering energy, mining, and ports, and has recently expanded into real estate. Starting as a plastic broker, Adani founded Adani Exports in 1988 and expanded into infrastructure by acquiring port operation rights and mineral brokerage rights, building a global enterprise.

On the other hand, American billionaires saw their asset sizes drastically shrink as tech stock prices plummeted due to the U.S. tightening policy. The Nasdaq index, which had been rising until November last year, dropped about 34% this year. According to Forbes, U.S. billionaires suffered a total wealth loss of $600 billion this year due to the stock market crash.

The biggest loser was Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. As Tesla's stock price fell nearly 70% this year, Musk's assets decreased by about $115 billion, causing him to lose the top spot among the world's richest.

The next largest asset decline was Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, whose wealth decreased by $80 billion this year. Additionally, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta Platforms, lost $78 billion, and Larry Page, co-founder of Google, saw his fortune shrink by $40 billion.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.