How Gautam Adani’s Bet On Green Energy Helped Him Overtake Mukesh Ambani In Personal Wealth

Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, overtook Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of India’s most valuable company Reliance Industries (RIL), for a day on Wednesday, November 24, in personal wealth.

The $15 billion Aramco deal call-off led to a fall in the share prices of RIL. In fact, RIL’s share price was under pressure for the last one week on reports of the Aramco deal being called off. 

Over the last one month, RIL’s share price has corrected over 9 per cent after hitting a record high of Rs 2,751.35 in October, leading to erosion in Ambani’s wealth. 

Ambani has been holding the position of being the richest Indian since June 2015. But this is not the first time that Ambani has been dethroned from the top position. In 2015, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi was at the top spot, largely due to his stake sale in Sun Pharma. (That was also a Wednesday; March 4, 2015). Ambani’s challenger this time is none other than Gautam Adani.  

However, on November 25, Ambani was back at the top position, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index (a daily ranking of the world’s richest people). According to the index, Ambani retained the top position in Asia and he is the world’s number 12, with $89.7 billion as on November 25. This is because RIL shares went up 6.02 per cent on November 25.  Adani was at number 13 in the Bloomberg World Billionaires list, just below Ambani with $89.1 billion, on November 25.

How Adani Closed The Gap

Adani, the second-richest Indian in the list, has closed the wealth gap with Ambani rapidly, amid rising share value of its group companies. In the recent past, Adani's wealth has soared to new heights and nearly $55.3 billion got added to his kitty in 2021 till date. During the same period, Ambani added just $13 billion, according to Bloomberg. 

Let's take a close look at the financial indicators of Adani Group’s listed companies, and how he made such a fortune out of his companies.  

Adani’s big bet on green energy is paying off. Adani Green Energy is the renewable energy arm of the group with a portfolio of wind and solar power plants. The company has been exploiting the growth opportunities on the back of the government’s Green Energy Mission. It has aligned its objectives with the government environmental target of becoming a zero-carbon emission country in the near future.  

Adani Green Energy got demerged from its parent in 2018 and since then, it has picked up more momentum. In the last three years, the shares of the company have given astronomical returns, of 2826.77 per cent.  

Adani Total Gas and Adani Enterprises have given 1,506 per cent and 1,021 per cent returns, respectively, for the same period.  In the last one year alone, Adani Transmission has risen 454 per cent.  Out of the six listed companies of Adani Group, four have delivered higher three-digit returns in the last one year.   

As of Thursday, November 25, 2021, Adani’s total wealth as per Bloomberg Billionaire Index, is $89.1 billion, just $0.6 billion less than Ambani’s total estimated wealth of $89.7 billion. In the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Elon Musk of Tesla is at the number one position, while Jeff Bezos of Amazon is at number two.