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Asia’s richest men prepare to battle in India as Gautam Adani enters Mukesh Ambani’s turf

  • Guatam Adani operates firms in green energy, gas, and ports, but may move into India’s mobile market, of which Mukesh Ambani’s company is number one
  • The two Indian businessmen combined are worth more than US$200 billion

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A combo picture of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani (L) and Gautam Adani (R). Photo: SCMP
Bloomberg
In June, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his aides ran into an unexpected dilemma when debating where to train the deal making lens of his empire next.
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Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. was contemplating buying a foreign telecommunications giant, when word reached them that Gautam Adani – who had overtaken Ambani as Asia’s richest man a few months earlier – was planning to bid in the first big sale of 5G airwaves in India, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. is the top player in India’s mobile market, while the Adani Group does not even have a license to offer wireless telecommunications services. But the very idea that he might be circling ground so core to Ambani’s ambitions put the tycoon’s camp on high alert, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing information that isn’t public.

One set of aides advised Ambani to pursue the overseas target and diversify beyond the Indian market, while another counselled conserving funds to fend off any challenge on the home turf, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Ambani, worth US$87 billion, ultimately never bid for the foreign firm, partly, the people said, because he decided it would be more astute to retain financial firepower in case of a challenge from Adani, who has seen his net worth surge more than anyone else in the world this year – to US$115 billion, based on data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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