Gautam Adani no longer among world's top 20 billionaires: Forbes

New Delhi: Gautam Adani, the founder and owner of the Adani Group of firms, has slipped out of the top 20 global billionaires list, as per Forbes’ real-time billionaires list.

Ma Huateng, chairman of internet giant Tencent Holdings, overtook Adani and family on Friday. Adani’s net worth stood at $56.1 billion, as of 3.30 p.m., and is ranked 22, currently.

In mid-June, shares of Adani Group fell sharply on the stock market as National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) froze the accounts of foreign investment firms who had stakes worth ₹43,500 crore in Adani’s four listed companies — Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission.

The 59-year old Adani entered the Forbes list of top 20 in April this year, as his wealth leapfrogged from $16.2 billion to $59.9 billion. Adani Group was the third indian conglomerate to cross the $100 million market cap after Reliance and Tata Group.

The Adani Group saw a meteoric rise on the domestic stock market last year, making Gautam Adani and family Asia’s second richest on May 14, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The family’s overseas assets include Carmichael coal in Australia, which got the permission after a 9-year wait to start the work. Despite heavy criticism from various sections of the population and banks refusing to fund, Adani Group went ahead with the project including the construction of a new railway line which will connect Australian port to the mine, 300 kilometres away from the city of Queensland.

One of the reasons behind the stock surge of Adani Group last year was the acquisition of 74% stake made by the company in India’s second busiest airport — Mumbai International Airport.