Mukesh Ambani is richest Asian as Adani tumbles out on Hindenburg row

NEW DELHI: Ports-to-energy tycoon Gautam Adani has tumbled on the world's top billionaire ranking and is no longer the richest Asian or Indian.

Rival business magnate Mukesh Ambani, who was richest Indian before Adani's eye popping gains in company stock prices catapulted him to top spot in April last year, has regained that position.

Adani, who ranked third richest in the world on the Forbes billionaire list just a week back, dropped to 15th position on Wednesday as his group stock continued to tumble in the aftermath of a damning report by a US short seller.

Ambani with USD 83.7 billion wealth is ranked No.9 on the list, according to Forbes website.

Adani, who has seen all of the USD 44 billion wealth gain he made last year vanish in one week, was ranked on 15th position with USD 75.1 billion wealth.

Since US-based short-seller Hindenburg in its January 24 report alleged that the group was "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades", Adani companies have lost USD 90 billion market value.

Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements. It called the Hindenburg report baseless and has threatened to sue the short seller.

The drop in rank comes a day after the Adani group managed to muster support from investors for a Rs 20,000 crore share sale for flagship firm Adani Enterprises despite the trading price of the stock being lower than the offer price.

Shares of Adani Enterprises plunged 30 per cent on Wednesday while Adani Power fell 5 per cent, Adani Total Gas slumped 10 per cent and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone dropped 20 per cent.

Adani Total Gas, a joint venture with France's TotalEnergie, has been the biggest casualty of the short seller report, as it has lost about USD 27 billion in market capitalisation.