Billionaire Gautam Adani's net worth dropped below $50 billion on Monday, showed updated data on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His total fortune now stands at $49.1 billion.
just a month ago, the 60-year-old industrialist's net worth stood at around $120 billion, making him the world's third richest person.
That changed drastically after a small US short seller, Hindenburg Research, came out with a scathing report on the Adani Group.
The short seller's report sent ripples across the Indian stock market and ripped through the market valuation of Adani Group's listed companies.
It may be noted that seven main Adani Group firms have lost a combined market valuation of $120 billion.
While Adani Group has dismissed the allegations made by Hindenburg, the report has raised concerns among investors and financial institutions, resulting in a continued fall in the share prices of its listed companies.
But this has had a severe impact on the personal wealth amassed by the industrial tycoon, who has seen his wealth drop $71 billion from the start of the year.
This makes Adani's wealth erosion the sharpest among the 500 richest people listed on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
With his rapidly falling net worth, Adani has also lost the coveted position as Asia's richest man to Mukesh Ambani, who is positioned 11th on the index with a net worth of $83.6 billion.
It could take a while before Gautam Adani can close the gap with Ambani and reclaim the position, given the sharp erosion in the value of listed company stocks.