At a time when all economic activity had come to a screeching halt, Reliance Industries Chairman and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani was busy tending a beeline of investors willing to pour billions of dollars into his conglomerate’s tech play Jio Platforms.
Mukesh Ambani’s wealth grew by a staggering Rs 90 crore per hour since lockdown in March, according to IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2020. Since lockdown, Ambani’s wealth fortune went up by Rs 2.78 lakh crore to Rs 6.6 lakh crore making Ambani retail his numero uno position on the list for 9th year running.
With a wealth of Rs 6,58,400 crore, the promoter of India’s biggest company by market-capitalisation (m-cap), continues to be the richest man of the country. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ambani’s wealth dropped by 28% to Rs 3,50,000 crore and then backed by a series of fundraising and strategic investment from Facebook, Google and other marquee investors into Jio and Reliance Retail.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, RIL’s m-cap crossed Rs 10 lakh Cr and registered a 73% increase in Mukesh Ambani’s wealth. “Ambani’s wealth is now bigger than the combined wealth of the next 5 in the list”, said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India.