Gautam Adani family tops 2024 Hurun India Rich List, wealth soars by 95%

Gautam Adani and his family has topped the Hurun India Rich List 2024 with an astonishing growth of 95 per cent in the wealth charts with total wealth of Rs 11,61,800 crore. The giant leap highlights how resiliently and aggressively the Adani family has grown amid multiple challenges thrown up by diversified businesses in the last one year.

The self-made entrepreneur from Ahmedabad, Gautam Adani, has shown exemplary resilience after the Hindenburg allegations shook the very foundation of Adani Group last year, Hurun said in a press release. In the last five years, the wealth of the Adani family has soared by Rs 1,021,600 crore, making it the fastest rise among India's billionaires. Most Adani Group companies’ shares have gained considerably, Hurun added.

This includes Adani Ports, for one, which saw 98 per cent increase driven by better utilisation levels, along with strategic new additions of ports and container terminals. In parallel, the energy-based firms under Adani-Adani Energy, Adani Gas, Adani Transmission, and Adani Power-witnessed a consolidated 76 per cent increase in their respective share prices.

Further feeding into this spree, MSCI's action to remove restrictions on Adani Group securities as part of its August 2024 review suggests the conglomerate is back to normal, Hurun noted. The move has raised the potential of key Adani group stocks such as Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, and Ambuja Cements, thereby bolstering the financial position of the Adani family further. The 2024 Hurun report also credited the estimated wealth of the family trust and overseas firms in the promoter group to Gautam Adani and his family, thereby adding to their aggregate wealth portfolio.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose wealth has risen 25 per cent in the past one year came second on the list with his total rising to Rs 10,14,700 crore. The chairman of Reliance Industries still remains one of the biggest forces in the Indian business firmament, having seen his wealth rise 150 per cent in five years. Strategic investments by Reliance Industries in the energy and retail sectors have insured a reasonably good appreciation of its share price, while positive developments in its telecom arm, Jio, have been aided by recent price hikes. Ambani laid out an aggressive 2030 vision for Reliance, including ambitious plans to generate 100GW of renewable energy and enter the insurance business in a big way-a large diversified push into new businesses, Hurun said.

Coming third is Shiv Nadar, 79-year-old founder of HCL Technologies, whose fortune jumped 37 per cent to Rs 3,14,000 crore. HCL has been performing excellently, securing $1.96 billion in new deals during Q1 FY25 and attaining year-on-year revenue growth of 5.6 per cent. It has also recorded a 20.4 per cent jump in net income, mainly propelled by strategic forays into generative AI, attracting sizeable contracts across industries. Over the last five years, his wealth has grown 220 per cent, making Nadar one of the most significant wealth creators in technology.

Cyrus S. Poonawalla, 83, Chairman of Serum Institute of India, at number four, is worth Rs 2,89,800 crore. His wealth has increased 3.1 times since 2020 due to the global success of Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. Contributing substantially to Poonawalla's leap in the ranking to join the rank of one of India's most impactful entrepreneurs, Serum Institute enjoys a significant presence in almost 170 countries around the world.

At number five is Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, who is 68 years old and worth Rs 2,49,900 crore. Under his strategic leadership, Sun Pharma has emerged as the world's fourth-largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company. His wealth has surged 52 per cent from last year, driven by Sun Pharma's strong turnaround and highest-ever revenues in FY 2023.

At 57, Kumar Mangalam Birla of the Aditya Birla Group is ranked sixth with Rs 2,35,200 crore, up 87 per cent over last year. He has been leading from the front in expanding the group internationally as it now drives a consolidated turnover of $65 billion. His wealth has grown almost sevenfold over the last five years as he emerged to be the most strategic person to lead the group across different markets.