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India's Adani is richest Asian, joins Musk and Bezos in 'centi-billionaire' club

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt=" Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is the the world" s="" third="" richest="" and="" richest.="" Cameron="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/08/30/adani-group-chairman-gautam-adani-epa-8302022.jpg"/><figcaption>Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is the the world&#x27;s third richest man, and Asia&#x27;s richest. <em>Cameron Laird, EPA</em></figcaption></figure></div><p><br/>MUMBAI - Indian industrialist Gautam Adani became the world&#x27;s third-richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Tuesday, the first time an Asian has ranked in the top three.</p><p>The self-made billionaire has seen his net worth more than double to $137.4 billion in the last year, rising 20 spots on the index to now rank just behind Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, Bloomberg News reported.</p><p>Adani, 60, made his fortune in ports and commodities trading and now operates India&#x27;s third-largest conglomerate with interests ranging from coal mining and edible oils to airports and news media.</p><p>His ballooning net worth reflects a stratospheric rise in the market capitalization of his publicly listed companies, as investors back the Adani Group&#x27;s aggressive expansion of old and new businesses.</p><p>Shares in the flagship Adani Enterprises -- of which the billionaire owns 75 percent -- have soared more than 2,400 percent since March 2020, and doubled in value in the past six months.</p><p>Stock price surges in other group companies including Adani Transmission, Adani Power, Adani Ports and Adani Green Energy have catapulted Adani past fellow Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.</p><p>Born in the city of Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat to a middle-class family, Adani dropped out of college to work briefly in the diamond industry before starting his export business in 1988.</p><p>In 1995, he won a contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port at Mundra in Gujarat, which has since grown to become India&#x27;s largest port.</p><p>At the same time, Adani expanded into thermal power generation and coal mining in India and overseas.</p><p>In recent years, the conglomerate has forayed into petrochemicals, cement, data centers and copper refining, in addition to establishing a renewable energy business with ambitious targets.</p><p>Recent investments in Indian news media and a bid for 5G airwaves this year have raised speculation that the billionaire&#x27;s empire could soon impinge on sectors dominated by Ambani&#x27;s Reliance Industries.</p><p>But Adani&#x27;s rapid expansion into capital-intensive businesses has raised alarm, with Fitch Group&#x27;s CreditSights warning last week that the group is &quot;deeply overleveraged&quot;.</p><p>&quot;In the worst-case scenario, overly ambitious debt-funded growth plans could eventually spiral into a massive debt trap, and possibly culminate into a distressed situation or default,&quot; the credit market research firm said in a note.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/06/22/manny-villar-remains-philippines-richest-man">Manny Villar remains Philippines&#x27; richest, net worth at $8.3 billion: Forbes</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/11/22/sy-siblings-keep-top-spot-in-forbes-philippines-richest-2022-list">SM empire&#x27;s Sy siblings retain top spot in Forbes Philippines&#x27; Richest 2022 list</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2202366" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Indian industrialist Gautam Adani became the world's third-richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Tuesday, the first time an Asian has ranked in the top three.