The spectacular 2022 of Gautam Shantilal Adani has been despite global headwinds and geopolitical crises. He was named the richest Asian this year, and also made a remarkable entry to Bloomberg's global ranking of billionaires, thereby replacing Google co-founder Larry Page. Adani reportedly added $40 billion to his net worth in 2022, while most billionaires this year lost millions in the highly volatile stock markets.
The Chairman and founder of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani, was named the Newsmaker of the Year 2022 by India Today magazine. Adani pointed out that one of the main reasons he views Dhirubhai Ambani as his main inspiration is because he showed that a man with humble beginnings can become a world-class industrialist.
Dhirubhai Ambani is a source of inspiration for millions of entrepreneurs in India. He has shown how a humble man without any backing or resources can not only set up a world-class business group, but also leave a legacy. Adani noted that I am deeply inspired by him, being a first-generation entrepreneur and having a humble beginning.
In many ways, one can say that there are broad similarities between the journeys of Adani and Dhirubhai Ambani. In the 1980s when Adani landed in Mumbai, known as Bombay to try his hand in diamond trading, Dhirubhai Ambani was already a household name, had founded Reliance and was quickly displacing established business families of the time from their perch. Adani is doing the same almost 30 years later, with the rapid rise of his rise.
Adani founded his first commodity trading firm, Adani Exports, after landing in Mumbai. In 2002, when Mukesh Ambani was elevated as Reliance's chairman after Dhirubhai's death, Adani Exports was still a very small player in the rapidly changing landscape of India Inc. Today, the comparisons between the two behemoths is stark. The Adani Group companies have a cumulative valuation of 19.31 lakh crore as of November 18, surpassing RIL's valuation by a whopping 1.84 lakh crore. There is a caveat here as well.
The BT 500 study period RIL maintains its top position as Business Today's flagship study, the BT 500 found out recently, in terms of the average annual market cap between October 2021 and September 2022. RIL's market cap is Rs 17 lakh crore, while the Adani Group's is Rs 13.72 lakh crore. The competition between the two companies is only going to get fiercer, especially in the energy sector. Both RIL and the Adani Group have strong positions in the energy segment, and both companies are keenly eyeing the fresh field of green hydrogen as the next big thing, especially as India pivots slowly towards a more carbon-zero model.