HOW DID GAUTAM ADANI BECOME THE 2nd RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD, AGAIN?

A billionaire Indian tycoon, Gautam Shantilal Adani is the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Ahmedabad.

The Forbes list ranks Adani ahead of Louis Vuitton's Bernard Arnault and Jeff Bezos, while Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani continues to take the eighth position with a fortune of $92 billion.

Having recently acquired cement companies Ambuja Cements and ACC for $6.5 billion, Gautam Adani now plans to double cement production capacity and become the country's most profitable cement company.

After Gautam Adani briefly regained the second position on Bloomberg and Forbes global billionaires list, Louis Vuitton boss François Arnault regained it. For a brief time last week, the chairman of the Adani Group had been the world's second richest man, but then he was edged out to finish third.

A Forbes list of wealthiest people shows that Adani has a net worth of $156.3 billion ($12.44 lakh crore) ahead of Bernard Arnault and Jeff Bezos of Louis Vuitton. With a net worth of $92 billion, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani holds the eighth spot. Tesla founder Elon Musk remains the world's richest man with a net worth of $277 billion (22.05 lakh crores).).

When Adani graduated from college, he worked in the diamond industry before starting his export business in 1988. Seven years later, he won a contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port at Mundra in Gujarat, which has grown to become India's largest port. As well as producing thermal power in India, Adani also mined coal worldwide.

Besides establishing a renewable energy business with ambitious targets, the Adani Group has made its presence known in petrochemicals, cement, data centres, and copper refining.

As a result of Mukesh Ambani's announcement that he plans to launch a consumer goods company, his kitchen essentials firm Adani Wilmar is now trying to boost its food operations. Bloomberg reported that the company has earmarked $500 million from its IPO for purchases. The additional funds will come from internal accruals as well as $3,000 crore in capital expenditures planned for next April.