India’s richest man earns $250 million a day, even better than Bill Gates
The world’s richest list has always been the domain of European and American countries in the past. But recently, there is an Asian who has caught my eye. This Asian is the richest man in India and the richest man in Asia – Gautam Adani. His net worth has reached $134.5 billion as of 29 September. He owns India’s largest energy industry and India’s largest private power plant and private port. Adani also controls nearly a quarter of India’s air traffic, owns the world’s largest coal mine, and has absolute power in agriculture and real estate. By the way, it also controls more than 70 media organizations in India, which can affect at least 800 million Indians. However, two years ago, Adani’s net worth was $6.5 billion, and now it has risen to $134.5 billion, a cumulative increase of 21 times in just two years. Even in the first eight months of this year, it earned as much as $61 billion, equivalent to $250 million a day. How exactly did he reach it?
The Europeans went crazy for coal
In order to grab coal, these Europeans began to buy coal from Adani. The core reason for the outbreak of coal grabs is the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The European Union embargoed Russian coal. The United States and the United Kingdom have also announced the ban on Russian coal, followed by Japan, the world’s third-largest coal importer. Therefore, as soon as the ban came into effect, European countries were eager to find coal all over the world. The market is chaotic, and the anxiety about grabbing coal has spread from Europe to every corner of the world. Even India’s coal market is getting tighter. Fossil fuel inventories at Indian power plants have fallen by about 11% since mid-August. The war for coal has directly affected the global coal price. Coal surged from $50/ton a year ago to $400/ton, with a peak increase of more than 700% at one point.
Adani’s Magical Experience
The crazier the Europeans scrambled for coal, the happier Adani in India laughed. Now that the price of coal has risen, his net worth has risen like a rocket. Before being changed by the price of coal, Adani had actually experienced a change of life. India is a caste system and Adani is the lowest caste race in India. For most people of lower castes, working and earning money is more valuable than going to school. In his second year of college, Adani dropped out of school at the age of 18 to start a business in order to support his family.
Then came the moment of life change. The first step: drop out of school to sell diamonds and win 1 million. In the 1980s, it only took one year for Adani to earn the first million of his life. The second step is to buy the port and become the richest man. At that time, the development of India’s domestic market increased sharply, and exports increased sharply. Adani grab this point and sold the diamond processing factory directly, and bought the largest local commercial port – Mundra port with the money. Under his management, the port became the largest private port in India. The 26-year-old Adani also made enough money to successfully start the Adani Group. The third step: is the Russian-Ukrainian war, the worth is over Bill Gates. In fact, before the Russian-Ukrainian war, coal was already Adani’s core business. With the help of the port monopoly, Adani almost took down the coal import trade in the whole country, and the supply volume exceeded one-third of the entire Indian coal market.
After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, most countries and traders stopped purchasing Russian energy, including coal. These buyers turned to other markets. As a result, Adani, who holds the world’s largest coal mine, unexpectedly became the biggest beneficiary. And not only coal, but Adani Group’s hands have also been extended to energy, natural gas, electricity, logistics, and other industries. Some Indian media said that no matter what they do in India, they are actually paying Adani.
The man who bought the president a plane
Adani can become the richest man. In fact, there is another biggest backer behind him is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adani and Modi are fellow villagers, and people of the same lower caste are very united. Modi has been criticized by the political and business circles in India. Adani doesn’t care and thinks that Modi is special. As a result, Adani really won the gamble. In 2014, Modi won the election and became the prime minister of India, and Adani’s business began to expand. Since then, every time Modi has visited a foreign country, the Adani group has always benefited from it. According to the “Indian Express” report, from the beginning of 2020 to the end of January 2022, the share prices of Adani Green and Adani Gas have risen more than 10 times in the two years. In such a bad business environment, Adani’s wealth rose like a rocket, the stock rose by 265%, and his personal wealth increased by 152%, which is inseparable from Modi’s assistance. The surge in wealth made Adani the first Asian billionaire with a fortune of more than $100 billion.
The possibility of Adani’s myth happening in other countries is almost zero. For 30 years, the Adani Group has been almost everywhere in India, firmly controlling ports, airports, and gas and coal mines, and earning a lot of money. India does not have Microsoft, Google, and Apple, but it has world-class billionaires. Monopoly drives people crazy, even the richest man.
