Adani slips to second in India's richest ranking after briefly reclaiming the top spot

Days after Gautam Adani overtakes Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani as India's richest man, Ambani overtook him to become the richest Indian on January 6 and has continued to hold onto his position.

On Jan 5th, while Adani saw his worth climb into the top 12 on the world rankings, Ambani was just one rung below at 13. This followed a Supreme Court decision allowing SEBI to continue investigations into allegations against Adani's companies, initially leading to a market misunderstanding that prompted a rally in stock prices and a temporary surge in Adani's net worth.

However, as it became clear that investigations were ongoing, stock values declined, indicating that the wealth increase was short-lived.

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Both have moved up spots since last year. But now Ambani now holds the 12th position while Adani is on 14th spot.

Earlier in December 2023, the billionaire had climbed to the 15th spot, reaching within close distance of Ambani who was then at 14.

Ambani’s gain
Adani’s fall resulted in Mukesh Ambani rising as the richest Indian for 11 months. Even though he got pushed to the second position on January 5 the difference between the wealth of Ambani and Adani was just $0.6 billion on that day. As of January 8, Ambani owned wealth worth $97.5 billion, while Adani’s wealth was $94.5 billion.

Between January 5, 2023 and January 5, 2024, according to Bloomberg, Ambani’s wealth grew by 12 per cent. While last year, Ambani was also a member of the top 10 richest people in the world list, he was pushed to the 12th position in February 2023. He hasn’t manage to be a part of the top 10 club since then. This was mainly due to the rise in the wealth of a few other billionaires, including Mark Zuckerburg, Larry Page and Carlos Slim.