Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani stands strong while becoming a success story in itself for the world by becoming the third richest person in the globe and the first Asian to stand among the top 3 richest people in the world with a net worth of $137.4 Billion.

A motivational story behind the success of Gautam Adani is his hard work, consistency and the attitude to never give up despite hardships. Adani has come a long way from dropping out of college in his second year at Gujarat University to becoming a diamond sorter.

The founder of the Adani Group, which has a massive portfolio of companies in various industries, including ports, coal and energy Gautam Adani made himself count among the billionaires in India in 2008, 20 years after starting his commodities export firm. The 60-year-old passed Bill Gates on the rich list in July after Gates announced he would be giving $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ranked No. 3 on the global wealth rankings. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani leapfrogged luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault on Tuesday. With a $137 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani is the first-ever Asian man to crack the top three. He sits behind only Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (worth $153 billion) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (worth $251 billion) on the rich list.

Adani has added $60.9 billion to his fortune so far this year, making him the only member of the top 10 to not have his net worth drop in 2022.

Listed Adani group companies are Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Transmission. The Adani group is also said to be the largest coal trader in the country. Revenue of $5.3 billion was reported by Adani Enterprises in the year to March 31 2021.

The Adani Group is the third largest conglomerate (after Reliance Industries and the Tata Group) in India.

Adani has spent the past few years expanding his coal-to-ports conglomerate, venturing into everything from data centers to cement, media and alumina. The group now owns India’s largest private-sector port and airport operator, city-gas distributor and coal miner.

Another act of Adani groups towards the country can be seen through their lookout towards the country's environmental issues. As the group faced criticism towards its Carmichael mine in Australia and was criticized by environmentalists, it pledged in November to invest $70 billion in green energy to become the world’s largest renewable-energy producer.

The pivot to green energy and infrastructure has won investments from firms including Warburg Pincus and Total Energies SE, helping Adani enter the echelons previously dominated by US tech moguls. The surge in coal in recent months has further turbocharged his ascent.
 

All told, Adani has added $60.9 billion to his fortune in 2022 alone, five times more than anyone else. He first overtook Ambani as the richest Asian in February, became a Centibillionaire in April and surpassed Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates as the world’s fourth-richest person last month.

All this has contributed immensely to the success story of the business tycoon over the years. He is indeed an inspiration for everyone and proves the sky is the only limit.

Mahindra unveils 5 Electric SUVs in the United Kingdom on the 75th independence day of India. The major automobile company, Mahindra & Mahindra reveals a new INGLO EV platform, showcasing its five new electric SUVs for the Indian market, under two EV brands.

The automaker’s EV brands include the already existing XUV with the twin peak logo in Copper and the new electric-only brand called BE. The five new electric SUVs include the XUV.e8, XUV.e9, BE.05, BE.07 and BE.09, which will come with Mahindra’s new Heartcore design philosophy. The first four of these will be launched in the next four years, between 2024 and 2026.

With a plan to invest over USD 1 billion in electric vehicle ambition, Mahindra in July raised INR 1,925 crores (USD 250 million) at a valuation of up to INR 70,070 crores (USD 9.1 billion) from British International Investment, the UK's Development Finance Institution, into its electric four wheeler business.
 

With this huge amount of investment, Mahindra aims to swiftly shift the dominance of TATA Motors in the electric car manufacturing sector within the country. Mahindra currently sells everito as its only electric car in India, whereas it aims to sell its electric cars by the end of 2024.

Mahindra's New EV SUVs Flagship Details:

Mahindra did not confirm the launch timeline and dimensions of the fifth electric SUV, BE.09. However it will be based on its INGLO platform and “allow four passengers a first-class experience.”

Mahindra confirms that these electric cars would be based on the all-new INGLO platform encompassing ‘progressive battery technology, platform architecture, brain power and human-machine interface’ and it will underpin all the upcoming Mahindra EVs going forward as the dedicated skateboard architecture will pack ‘intuitive, intelligent and immersive innovations’.

It will also deliver a multi-sensorial driving experience with a futuristic, augmented reality-enabled heads-up display, edge-to-edge screen, 5G network capability and Over-The-Air updates.

This is the company’s way of providing future-ready technology, head-turning design, and world-class products along with the benefits of electric vehicles. Mahindra expects to sell more electric vehicles by 2027.

The true essence of a developing country is where the women are the rising stars. The best example have been the leading women of the country, Roshni Nadar Malhotra the chairperson of Indian tech giant HCL Technologies Limited, is the richest woman in the country for the second year in a row with a wealth of ₹84,330 crore, according to the ‘Leading Wealthy Women 2021’ report published by Hurun India in collaboration with Kotak Private Banking.

Women empowerment and the rise of women in the country have been a perfect example of the proud India. The position of the second richest woman in India has been secured by Falguni Nayar, Nykaa founder and chief executive office (CEO) and her net worth is ₹57,520 crore.

The ‘Leading Wealthy Women 2021’ report is the third annual list of India's wealthiest women entrepreneurs and professional managers. These list have been generated through a snapshot

The other women who have pushed their limits to be among the top 10 richest women in India are:

The list has a total of the 100 richest women in the country. Some notable entrants into the list included Lenskart co-founder Neha Bansal who has a net worth of Rs, 1,540 crore, and LEAD school co-founder Smita Deorah with a wealth of ₹1,390 crore.

These women have been legendary in their niche and proved one can achieve it all if they have willingness to complete it.

According to a recent Oxfam analysis, billionaires' fortunes have gained as much in the last two years as they did in the preceding 23 years combined, bringing the group's total net worth to $12.7 trillion, or nearly 13.9 percent of world GDP. It is a greater than twofold increase since 2000.

Billionaires have a tremendous impact on the world economy, politics, and philanthropy. In 2022, there will be 2,668 billionaires around the globe, according to Forbes. The richest belong to an even more exclusive club and have greater power. A significant percentage of the wealth of several of these billionaires is yet, invested in the companies they started, which include industry giants in technology.

During the epidemic, a new billionaire was created every 30 hours on average, but that has changed since the beginning of this year.

The S&P 500 has dropped roughly 18 percent year so far, while crypto-currencies have lost $1 trillion in market value, resulting in historic losses for the world's wealthiest.

Part of the reason was China's crackdown on internet firms and a cooling real estate market, but it also reflected the furious advances in the US stock market, which helped inflate everything from cryptocurrencies to property values. Like this, now swiftly reversing as inflation has soared, raising questions about how quickly the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates.

Biggest Billionaire Losers

1. Elon Musk

Musk became a significant investor in Tesla Motors (now Tesla) in 2004, which led to his present position as CEO of the electric car firm. In addition to electric vehicles, Tesla manufactures energy storage devices, car accessories, and solar power systems through its acquisition of SolarCity in 2016. Musk is also the CEO and chief engineer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a space launch rocket company.

Musk came to the top of the wealth rankings in 2020 as a result of the 740 percent increase in Tesla stock. Tesla will become the most significant business to join the S&P 500 in December 2020. Musk became the world's richest person in January 2021 (a title he has retained since).

Elon Musk suffered the most loss of any of the 500 billionaires. Musk's fortune was reduced by $12.3 billion as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and 500 SPX had their worst days in two years. Musk has been pursuing a $44 billion acquisition for Twitter TWTR, battling with the social-network service's CEO Parag Agrawal over spam bots, maybe in an attempt to negotiate a better bargain or walk away from it entirely. Musk is still worth $210 billion, after losing $60.4 billion this year.

2. Jeff Bezos

Before relinquishing 4 percent of Amazon to his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott as part of the divorce proceedings in 2019, Bezos owned up to 16 percent of the company. Amazon's stock price increased by 76% in 2020 due to increased demand for online purchasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bezos will stand down as CEO of Amazon on July 5, 2021, and will become its executive chair.

Jeff Bezos lost $20.5 billion of his fortune when Amazon.com Inc.'s earnings disappointed investors, contributing to the worst year for technology stocks in years. His fortune has plummeted since it peaked at $210 billion last year, making him the world's richest person at the time, according to a New York Post story. According to Forbes, MacKenzie Scott, Bezos' college sweetheart and former wife, who received 25% of his Amazon shares in a divorce deal, had a $6 billion loss in her wealth, dropping to $36.8 billion. According to a Dailymail UK article, Bezos' net worth has fallen by $40 billion since the beginning of the year.

3. Mark Zuckerberg

According to Forbes, the 37-year-current old's net worth is $84.3 billion, the first time he hasn't been one of the world's top ten richest individuals since the summer of 2015. Zuckerberg controls approximately 13% of Meta, which just rebranded from Facebook.

The world's richest person, Elon Musk, lost $35 billion in November after tweeting about selling 10% of his Tesla stock, making Zuckerberg's $29.8 billion loss the second-largest single-day loss in history. Musk's net worth decreased by $25.8 billion last week, according to Bloomberg.

Meta's shares plunged after the firm warned of weaker-than-expected sales growth in the coming quarter and estimated that Apple's recent privacy reforms will cost the company $10 billion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine almost a month ago, describing the conflict as a "special military operation." Since then, a number of nations have taken tough measures, and many businesses have opted to curtail their activities in Russia.

India's leading IT services business Infosys, in which UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak's wife holds a minority investment, is now embroiled in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to BBC sources, it is suspending operations in Russia and looking for replacement employment overseas for Moscow-based employees.

Infosys was "trying to find replacement roles abroad for staff employed in Moscow," according to sources reported by Britain's public service broadcaster BBC late Friday night.

The purported halt in activities comes less than a week after British media accused Sunak of benefitting from the Putin administration because Infosys has links to Russian businesses. Sunak is married to Akshata Murthy, the daughter of NR Narayan Murthy.

The news comes as Sunak faces tough questions about his wife Akshata Murty's stake in the company, which was co-founded by her father, NR Narayana Murthy. Sunak's spokeswoman previously said that his wife has no part in Infosys' operational choices. According to the most recent annual report from Infosys, Akshata Murthy owns 0.9 per cent of the company's stock, valued at hundreds of millions of pounds.

In India's two major stock markets, there was no exchange filing on this occurrence.

INFOSYS' REACTION

Infosys' spokeswoman declined to comment on the decision to shut the Moscow office or on the company's future cooperation with Russian firms.

Last week, Infosys stated that it had no "active business relationships with local Russian enterprises." This was to clarify its operations in Moscow, which had been subjected to severe economic sanctions as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

According to Infosys, it has less than 100 people in Russia who serve several worldwide clients that have offices there.

People have been complaining about a suspected phishing link published by pop culture legend Ozzy Osbourne that is emptying their crypto wallets just days after his non-fungible-token (NFT) collection CryptoBatz became online. On January 20, a batch of 9,666 digital bats known as "CryptoBatz" went on sale.

According to The Verge, after clicking on a link given by the project's official Twitter account, Osborne's fans turned to Twitter to protest about a phishing scam that was draining money from their wallets. This is what transpired.

Osbourne's NFT collection, like most of the NFT projects, was announced on the Discord NFT marketplace on December 31, 2021, and received over 4,000 retweets and hundreds of responses. The link sent viewers to a landing page that included all of the heavy metal artist's digital assets.

The actual amount of money stolen and the number of persons conned remains unknown at this time. Osborne has yet to make a public remark on the event.

Meanwhile, Sutter Systems' creators, CryptoBatz NFTs, have blamed Discord for the scam's discovery.

According to the investigation, Juppegi, co-founder of Sutter Systems, stated in an email statement that the penetration was only feasible because of the Scam Discord instance's ease of creation and maintenance.

Disord, on the other hand, is conducting an internal investigation.

In December of last year, Osborne launched the CryptoBatz collection.

The bat motif in Osbourne's NFT collection is a nod to the singer's infamous on-stage event in 1982 when he bit off the head of a bat while playing in Des Moines, Iowa, believing it was rubber.
 

NFT creators such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, SupDucks, and CrypToadz have teamed up with Osbourne's collection to allow his digital bats to evolve with their NFTs, a unique feature provided by Osbourne to his collection.

On OpenSea, the CryptoBatz NFTs may be purchased for about ETH 1.8, which equals $5,046. (roughly Rs. 3.75 lakh).

As the speculative crypto-asset soared in popularity, NFT sales amounted to over $25 billion (around Rs. 1,84,700 crore) in 2021.

The growing popularity of NFTs among investors appears to have piqued the interest of fraudsters, who have already increased their illegal actions in the crypto realm.

According to a recent analysis by research firm Chainalysis, scammers cheated investors out of over $7.7 billion (approximately Rs. 58,700 crores) last year.

Investing wisely is essential for building wealth and securing your financial future. In India, there are abundant investment options available, catering to diverse financial goals and risk appetites. Whether you're looking for long-term wealth creation or short-term gains, there's an investment avenue that suits your needs.

Selecting the right investment option in India depends on your financial goals, risk tolerance, and investment horizon. Diversifying your portfolio across different asset classes is often recommended to manage risk effectively. Also, staying informed about the latest market trends and seeking advice from financial experts can help you make informed investment decisions. 

Check out this list of the top 10 best investment options in India for financial growth.

1. Equity Mutual Funds

Equity mutual funds invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks. They offer the potential for high returns over the long term. Investors can choose from various categories like large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap funds, depending on their risk tolerance.

2. Fixed Deposits

Fixed deposits are one of the safest investment options in India. They provide a fixed interest rate and guarantee the principal amount. You can opt for regular fixed deposits or tax-saving fixed deposits under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.

3. Public Provident Fund (PPF)

PPF is a government-backed savings scheme with a lock-in period of 15 years. It offers tax benefits under Section 80C and comes with a relatively high-interest rate. It is an excellent choice for long-term financial goals.

4. Sovereign Gold Bonds

Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) allow investors to own gold in a digital form without the problem of physical storage. They offer both capital appreciation and interest income. They are issued by the government and come with a fixed tenor.

5. National Pension System (NPS)

NPS is a retirement-focused investment option that combines equity and debt investments. It offers tax benefits under Section 80C and 80CCD. It allows investors to build a retirement corpus systematically.

6. Real Estate

Real estate has been a traditional investment avenue in India. While it offers the potential for capital appreciation, it requires substantial initial capital. You can invest directly in properties or opt for real estate investment trusts (REITs) for diversification.

7. Stock Market

Investing in individual stocks can yield significant returns, but it's inherently riskier. It's advisable to conduct thorough research or seek expert advice before diving into the stock market.

8. Corporate Fixed Deposits

Corporate fixed deposits are offered by companies and typically provide higher interest rates compared to bank FDs. However, they carry a slightly higher risk due to the company's creditworthiness.

9. Debt Mutual Funds

Debt mutual funds primarily invest in fixed-income securities like government bonds, corporate bonds, and money market instruments. They offer stable returns and are relatively less volatile than equity funds.

10. Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)

SIP is a disciplined way to invest in mutual funds. It allows you to invest a fixed amount regularly, typically monthly. SIPs enables investors to benefit from rupee cost averaging and the power of compounding.