This Indian Billionaire Piled On More Wealth Than Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos Combined In 2021

India’s super-rich are getting richer at a faster clip than their American peers like Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk and Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) Chair Jeff Bezos.

What Happened: Coal and green energy tycoon Gautam Adani, Asia’s second-richest person, piled on $49 billion to his wealth in 2021 — which is more than both what Musk and Bezos added in the same period, according to 2022 M3M Hurun Global Rich List, reported Business Standard, an Indian publication.

India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance conglomerate has interests spanning oil to retail, saw his wealth grow at 24% year-over-year. Adani’s wealth soared 153% in comparison. 

American billionaires were left trailing in terms of the pace of wealth gained. Musk’s wealth grew 4% to $202 billion, while Bezos' fell by 1% to $188 billion, reported Observer, citing Hurun data.  

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Why It Matters: Within a decade, Adani’s wealth has risen 1,830%, while Ambani’s has spiked 400%, according to the list. 

The wealth gained by Indian billionaires in the last decade is nearly $700 billion on a cumulative basis, equivalent to Switzerland’s GDP, Business Standard. quoted Hurun Managing Director Anas Rahman Junaid as saying.  

India added 51 new billionaires in 2021 — well behind China's 235 and the United States' 63, reported Quartz India.

However, more than 46 million Indians fell into extreme poverty in 2020 alone, which is half of the world’s new poor, Quartz India reported, citing United Nations data. 

“The stark wealth inequality in India is a result of an economic system rigged in [favor] of the super-rich over the poor and [marginalized],” according to Oxfam India’s “Inequality Kills: India Supplement 2022” report. 

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