Gautam Adani slips to 24th spot on global billionaires' list; net worth down to $52.4 billion

Chairman of the ports-to-power conglomerate Adani Group, Gautam Adani, has gone down to the 24th spot in the global billionaires’ list amid the ongoing row over the scathing report by the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research against the Group. Adani’s net worth has reached $52.4 billion as of February 14, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. As per Forbes Real-Time Billionaires Index, the tycoon’s net worth stands at $53 billion. 

The Adani Group crisis started when the US-based short seller firm Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate of stock market manipulation, money laundering, and accounting fraud via shell firms. The report caused a massive rout in the shares of Adani Group companies. 

Meanwhile, the capital markets regulator SEBI has told the Supreme Court that it is already investigating Hindenburg’s allegations against the Adani Group and the market activity in the Group’s stocks before and after the report came out. It further said Hindenburg is a short seller research company among other companies that do research on companies that supposedly have governance and/or financial issues. 

SEBI told the top court, “Their strategy is to take a short position in the bonds/shares of such companies at the prevailing prices, (i.e., sell the bonds/shares without actually holding them) and then publish their reports.” A public interest litigation was moved in the apex court seeking an investigation into the charges against Adani and his companies. The Supreme Court had urged Sebi to respond on the measures to protect Indian investors. 

After Sebi’s statement in court, Adani Group reassured investors and said in a statement to the news agency Reuters THAT it had strong cash flows and business plans were fully funded. It added that the balance sheet of each of its independent portfolio companies was “very healthy”. 

The Group statement read, “We are confident in the continued ability of our portfolio to deliver superior returns to shareholders.”

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