Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani overtakes Gautam Adani as India's richest person again

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries, has overtaken Gautam Adani to become India's richest person again, less than two weeks after Adani was crowned the country's wealthiest on Forbes' annual India list.

The real-time billionaires tracker run by Forbes valued Ambani at $78.8 billion (about ₹7.62 trillion) on Oct. 13, ranking him 25th in the world. Adani, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, a ports, airports, power and cement empire, was at $74.9 billion (₹7.24 trillion) and 28th globally, according to the figures reported by Indian outlets Amar Ujala and IBC24. The gap between the two men stood at $3.9 billion.

The switch leaves Ambani as Asia's second-richest person behind ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, who is worth about $84 billion. Adani is third in Asia. Savitri Jindal of the steel-to-power Jindal Group, at $36.6 billion, ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal at $30.6 billion and HCL Technologies founder Shiv Nadar at $27.4 billion round out India's top five.

Adani shares slide

The change at the top came after a heavy week for Adani Group stocks. Shares of flagship Adani Enterprises fell 3.75% on Oct. 7 and dropped as much as 6% the next day to ₹2,590 ($26.78), their lowest level since mid-May, according to Business Standard. The stock had fallen 13% over six sessions and was about 20% below its July peak of ₹3,245 ($33.55). Adani Green Energy fell 7% on Oct. 8, while Adani Power, Adani Ports and SEZ, Adani Energy Solutions and Adani Total Gas each lost between 2% and 5%.

The selling arrived despite a credit upgrade. CARE Ratings raised Adani Enterprises' long-term rating to AA on Oct. 7, its highest ever, citing a ₹15,000 crore ($1.55 billion) share sale in July and a planned stake sale in Adani Airports Holdings. Market research firm DSIJ tied the slide to broader pressure on Indian equities, including Brent crude above $100 a barrel, foreign investor outflows and a 25-basis-point rate increase by the Reserve Bank of India to 5.5%. Adani Enterprises ended the week of Oct. 5 to 9 down 7.87% at ₹2,633.10 ($27.23).

On Oct. 6, before the selloff, the Forbes tracker had valued Adani at $79.6 billion.

Two different yardsticks

The real-time ranking differs from the Forbes India Rich List published at the end of September, which put the Adani family at the top with $112.7 billion and Ambani second at $86.3 billion. That list counts family fortunes and was based on stock prices from Sept. 11. Forbes' real-time tracker values Gautam Adani's holdings separately from his wider family, which accounts for much of the difference in his figure.

The annual list was the first time since 2022 that Adani had led Forbes' India ranking. He added $20.7 billion over the year, the biggest gain on the list. Ambani lost $18.7 billion over the same period, which Forbes blamed on margin pressure at Reliance, including in its retail arm. The Hurun India Rich List, released Sept. 23, also ranked Adani ahead of Ambani.

Jio listing in focus

Ambani's next big test is the planned initial public offering of Jio Platforms, Reliance's digital and mobile unit, which has more than 524 million subscribers. The offering is reported to open on Oct. 21 and could raise about $3.8 billion, which would make it India's largest IPO, according to Reuters reports cited by Indian media. The company has not formally announced a timetable.

The listing is structured as a fresh issue of up to 270 million shares, or about 2.9% of the enlarged company, and the proceeds are earmarked mainly to repay borrowings at Reliance Jio Infocomm. Reliance owns 66.43% of Jio Platforms, with Meta Platforms holding 9.98% and Google 7.73%. Jio reported revenue of ₹1.47 trillion ($15.2 billion) and net profit of ₹30,049 crore ($3.1 billion) for the year ended March 2026.

Reliance shares rose more than 4% over two sessions to ₹1,217.60 ($12.59) on Oct. 6 as the listing drew closer. Religare Broking, which kept a buy rating on the stock on Oct. 13 with a price target of ₹1,696 ($17.54), said the Jio listing could lead investors to re-rate the conglomerate.

Ambani controls Reliance, which he inherited with his brother Anil after the death of their father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 2002. The company's businesses span oil refining, petrochemicals, retail, telecommunications and new energy.