This story is part of Forbes' coverage of India’s Richest 2021. See the full list here.
Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, saw his net worth nearly triple to $74.8 billion since last year’s list. Shares of his six listed companies climbed between 73% and 630% over the past year—outperforming India’s benchmark index’s 52% gain—amid the group’s ambitious moves. Already India’s largest private port operator, the Ahmedabad-based group took control of Mumbai airport, the country’s second-largest, after upping its ownership to 74% earlier this year. This acquisition followed Adani’s winning bids in 2019 to develop and operate six airports across India for the next 50 years.
Adani is also seeking to list Adani Wilmar, a joint venture with Singaporean agribusiness billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong’s Wilmar International. But the IPO has yet to be approved by India’s market regulator. Following Mukesh Ambani’s $10 billion bet on renewable energy projects, Adani recently disclosed plans to invest $20 billion over the next decade in green energy.
A first-generation entrepreneur from the western Indian state of Gujarat, Adani started a commodities trading business in the 1980s, expanding to energy, ports, airports, transportation, defense, property and finance over the next four decades. The Adani Group was not immune to the pandemic—consolidated revenue of the group’s listed companies was $13.5 billion in the fiscal year to March, down 3% from a year earlier.
