Gautam Adani loses over Rs 97,000 crore this week – more than anybody else

Adani Group chief Gautam Adani’s personal wealth declined by nearly $13.2 billion (more than Rs 97,000 crore) in the last four days, as stocks of the gas-to-retail conglomerate crashed over concerns related to some of his foreign investors, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Adani’s loss was the highest among all business tycoons listed on the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index. In the space of the first four trading days this week, Adani’s wealth reduced to $63.5 billion (over Rs 4.71 lakh crore) from more than $76 billion (over Rs 5.63 lakh crore). Earlier this month, his wealth was nearing $80 billion (Rs 5.93 lakh crore), and Adani was closing in the gap between himself and India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.

The downturn in Adani Group stocks was triggered on June 14 after The Economic Times reported that three foreign funds – Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund – were frozen by the National Securities Depository Limited. These three funds together own over Rs 43,500 crore worth of shares in four Adani Group companies.

An account freeze means the funds are not able to sell any of the current holdings nor buy any new securities.

On June 15, the National Securities Depository Limited issued a clarification that the accounts mentioned by the report were “active”. The Adani Group…

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