- According to Forbes’ richest billionaires list, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Mittal added $2.3 billion to his net worth over the last year.
Sunil Mittal was among the only three billionaires who benefited when the other 97 billionaires lost billions of dollars in India like Mukesh Ambani. Radhakishan Damani and Gautam Adani were the other two billionaires who have gained despite the market crash due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mittal has investments in telecommunications, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hotels, food, and farming. Many of these segments have been hit by the disruption caused by the spread of COVID-19 but, according to Forbes’ richest billionaires list, the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Mittal added $2.3 billion to his net worth over the last one year. He is worth $9.5bn, according to Forbes real-time net worth estimates.
The net worth rose to $8.8 billion (March 2020) from $6.5 billion (March 19). Speculations that the Indian market will become a duopoly, led by Jio and Airtel after the collapse of Vodafone-Idea, have been a significant catalyst for Airtel’s stock and, thus, Sunil Mittal, whose family owns 27 percent of the telecom major’s share. In February, amid its own problems, Airtel’s stock jumped from October last year’s €350 to €5536.
Airtel is among the handful of businesses that are expected to rapidly recover from the effects of coronavirus. In addition, the pending decision on floor price fixing could also boost Airtel’s production, a CLSA report says. It is also the No.2 stock in the large-cap portfolio of JM Financial which holds 3.5 percent of Airtel’s assets.
Radhakishan Damani’s net worth, who owns Avenue Supermarts Ltd., has risen to $10.2 billion this year by 5 percent, making him the only billionaire with gains among the 12 richest Indians whose wealth is monitored by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Avenue Supermarts shares, which contribute almost all the capital to the net worth of Damani, have advanced 18 percent this year.
Radhakishan Damani, who was born in a one-room apartment in a Mumbai tenement house, saw his wealth swell at a time when stock routing shaved more than 32 percent off his billionaire fellow countrymen Mukesh Ambani and Uday Kotak’s net worth amid concerns that the pandemic would hinder economic development. Damani’s supermarket chain, known for its sparing cost structure, benefited from panic buying household necessities after India decided to shut down its 1.3 billion people last month.
While tycoons like Mukesh Ambani, Uday Kotak are loosing due to the Corona Virus effect, It’s good to few others gaining from it. It will good to see things getting back to Normal.