Will Gautam Adani become India’s first trillionaire? A UK firm’s report says so

No one on the earth has become a trillionaire till now. Trillionaire is a person whose net worth crosses one trillion dollars. If that amount is converted into the Indian currency, it will be a humongous Rs 84 lakh crore at current exchange rates. The current net worth of Gautam Adani is nearly Rs 8.4 lakh crore, according to Bloomberg. To reach this mind-blowing $1 trillion mark, the business tycoon has to increase his wealth by 10 times from the current levels

Gautam Shantilal Adani’s name turned into a hot topic among India’s business and political circles after Narendra Modi rose to power as India’s Prime Minister in 2014. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been consistently pointing fingers at Adani, alleging undue favours to the group by the Modi government. He even made Adani’s business empire as one of the key poll issues during the 2019 and 2024 General elections. Interestingly, he continued his fight against Adani even after the recent polls that saw the return of Narendra Modi to power for the third time. Adani and his group’s name continue to evoke similar reactions even now.

Last week, the Congress party alleged that the Modi government helped Adani Group when the latter took over 10 financially-stressed companies. According to the grand old party, public sector banks, which had exposure to these 10 companies, took a big haircut on loans, ranging from 42 per cent to 96 per cent. Consequently, the banks got back only Rs. 16,000 crore out of Rs. 62,000 crore, it said, citing data released by All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA). That’s an interesting allegation indeed.

But one thing is clear now. The Rahul vs Adani battle will continue till the next General Elections, slated for 2029. It is to be seen whether the Adani issue will fetch political dividends to Rahul and his party in the next Lok Sabh polls. Or will the Adani Group lose its sheen by then.

It is a fact that the group has been facing one issue or the other for the past few years. But it took its biggest jolt when US-based short seller Hindenburg Research released a report on January 24, 2023, accusing the Adani-owned business empire of mega accounting fraud and stock manipulation. Incidentally, just before that report was out, the group saw its market capitalisation reach a peak of $235 billion. Adani became the world’s third richest person with a fortune of nearly $137 billion.

Post the report, the group, which has 10 listed companies, lost market capitalisation of a whopping $142 billion in a few weeks. Adani’s wealth also nosedived by nearly 60 per cent to $40 billion. And his rank in the global wealth list slipped to 30 from the envious third.

However, the group recovered most of its market capitalisation in the last 18 months.

But in August second week this year, Hindenburg came up with a follow-up report on the Adani issue, alleging that Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch went soft in the Supreme Court- ordered probe against the group. The second report alleged that the Sebi chief had invested in an overseas fund, which was used to manipulate Adani Group’s stocks. But this report did not impact the group’s fortunes the way the first one had.

As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani’s current net worth is $99.6 billion (as on September 8, 2024). That means that most of his lost wealth is back in his fold. Despite continuous political allegations and damning reports from global firms, the group continues to expand and grow!

But will Gautam Adani become India’s first trillionaire? Trillionaire is a person whose net worth crosses one trillion dollars. If that amount is converted into the Indian currency, it will be a humongous Rs. 84 lakh crore at current exchange rates. The current net worth of Gautam Adani is nearly Rs 8.4 lakh crore, according to Bloomberg.

To reach this mind-blowing $1 trillion mark, the business tycoon has to increase his wealth by 10 times from the current levels. Of course, these dynamics will change if the rupee’s value goes down further.

A UK-based firm has come out with a study which has projected that Adani will become a trillionaire by 2028 if he sustains the present annual growth momentum. Pegging his current wealth at $84 billion and the average annual growth rate at 122.86 per cent, Informa Connect Academy forecast that Adani has ample chances of becoming a trillionaire in four years from now.

However, the fact of the matter is that no one on earth has become a trillionaire till now. Even when it comes to global corporates, a few have achieved this milestone in the market capitalisation. That’s also a recent phenomenon.

But, this interesting study by Informa Connect titled ‘The 2024 Trillion Dollar Club’, has revealed that Elon Musk, who is currently the world’s richest person with a total fortune of $237 billion, may become world’s first trillionaire by 2027.

Adani is at the second place in the list, though he is expected to achieve the wealth milestone a year later. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Berkshire Hathway’s Warren Buffet, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and others are on the list of trillionaire probables, but they will take more time to reach there.

From India, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries is also on the list at the eighth place, but he is projected to turn into a trillionaire by 2033, nearly five years after Adani.

Frankly speaking, the Adani group, as of now, is playing a pivotal role in India’s economy as it owns and controls a large chunk of the country’s port operations, airports and power generation. As India is home to the world’s fastest growing major economy now, the group is likely to post good growth over the next few years. But it will face a challenge if the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) loses polls and a Congress-led coalition comes to power at the Centre in 2029. That eventuality will be a far bigger challenge for Gautam Adani than what he had faced in the aftermath of the 2023 Hindenburg report. American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, who owned Standard Oil, became the world’s first billionaire way back in 1916. More than 100 years later, there is now an ample prospect of the world witnessing its first trillionaire. Will Adani join the coveted club of trillionaires by 2028? Let’s wait and see.