Gautam Adani's net worth slips $7.6 bn post NSDL's action on three FPIs

A crash in Adani Group stocks wiped out over $7.6 billion (nearly Rs 55,692 crore)  to $67.3 billion from business tycoon's Gautam Adani's net worth on Monday.  The drastic fall in net worth of the billionaire businessman was reflected in the Forbes Real time Billionaires index in early trade today.

After Indian market closed, the index showed some recovery with Adani's net worth showing loss of $4.1 billion or Rs 29,307 crore to $70.8 bn against Friday's close of $74.9 billion.    

Currently, Adani and his family rank 16th on the Forbes Billionaires index.

India's richest billionaire Mukesh Ambani is ranked 12th on the list with a net worth of $87 billion. A rise in Indian market added $1.3 billion or 1.47% to his net worth on Monday.

The shares of Adani Group tumbled up to 25% during intra day session after National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) freezed the accounts of three foreign funds owning over Rs 43,500 crore worth of shares in four group companies.

After 800% rally in one year, this Adani stock lost 25% post NSDL action today

Share of Adani Enterprises lost 25% to Rs 1,201 against previous close of Rs 1,601.45 on BSE.

The stock of the Adani Group's flagship firm opened with a loss of 10% at Rs 1,441.35.

Other Adani Group stocks such as Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone plummeted 18.75 per cent to Rs 681.50 on the BSE today.

Adani Green Energy dipped 5 per cent to Rs 1,165.35, Adani Total Gas fell 5 per cent to Rs 1,544.55, Adani Transmission declined 5 per cent to Rs 1,517.25 and Adani Power slumped 4.99 per cent to Rs 140.90.

All these stocks hit their respective lower circuit limits today.

The three foreign funds whose accounts were frozen on or before May 31 were Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund, according to NSDL's website.

An account freeze implies that the funds won't be able to transact in securities of those companies.

The freeze on three accounts could be due to insufficient disclosure of information regarding beneficial ownership under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), as mentioned in a report in The Economic Times.

They stated that custodians usually warn clients of such action but if the fund does not respond or fails to comply then the accounts can be frozen.

Later, the Adani Group termed the report as "blatantly erroneous" and that it was "done to deliberately mislead the investing community".

"We regret to mention that these reports are blatantly erroneous and is done to deliberately mislead the investing community. This is causing irreparable loss of economic value to the investors at large and reputation of the group," the Adani group told the stock exchanges today.