India’s Adani is first Asian to become world’s third-richest person

Few outside of India had heard of Gautam Adani a couple of years ago. Now the Indian tycoon, a college dropout who first tried his luck as a diamond trader before turning to coal and eventually building one of the biggest conglomerates, has become the world’s third-richest person.

It’s the first time an Asian has broken into the top three of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — fellow citizen Mukesh Ambani and China’s Jack Ma never made it that far. With a $137.4bn fortune, Adani has overtaken France’s Bernard Arnault and now trails just Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos of the US in the ranking.

Adani, 60, has spent the past few years expanding his coal-to-ports conglomerate, venturing into everything from data centers to cement, media and alumina. The group now owns India’s largest private-sector port and airport operator, city-gas distributor and coal miner.

The pivot to green energy and infrastructure has won investments from firms including Warburg Pincus and TotalEnergies SE, helping Adani enter the echelons previously dominated by US tech moguls. The surge in coal in recent months has further turbocharged his ascent.

Adani has added $60.9bn to his fortune in 2022 alone, five times more than anyone else. He first overtook Ambani as the richest Asian in February, became a centibillionaire in April and surpassed Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates as the world’s fourth-richest person last month.

Adani was able to move past some of the world’s richest US billionaires partly because they’ve recently boosted their philanthropy. Gates said in July he was transferring $20bn to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while Warren Buffett has already donated more than $35bn to the charity.

The two, along with Gates’s ex-wife Melinda French Gates, started the Giving Pledge initiative in 2010, vowing to give away most of their fortunes in their lifetimes. The billions of dollars spent in philanthropic causes has pushed them lower on the Bloomberg wealth ranking. They’re now fifth and 164th, respectively. Adani, too, has increased his charitable giving, pledging in June to donate $7.7bn for social causes to mark his 60th birthday.

Also read: Asia’s richest men prep for battle as Adani enters Ambani’s turf