World

New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Gautam Adani was already Asias richest man and now he is also the world's third richest person, overtaking LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault and becoming the first Asian person to take that spot, according to Bloomberg and its Billionaires index.

Adani, who runs one of India's top conglomerates, is now believed to be worth approximately $137 billion, the tracker shows.

That's after a surge this week placed him just behind Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose own fortunes are estimated at $251 billion and $153 billion, respectively, CNN reported.

Like other billionaires around the world, Adani has seen his wealth skyrocket during the pandemic.

The founder of the eponymous Adani Group controls companies ranging from ports and aerospace to solar energy and coal.

His fortune has grown exponentially since the start of the global health crisis, as investors bet on his ability to grow his business in sectors that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prioritized for development.

Adani has also benefited from an uptick in coal usage, which has catapulted his ascent in recent months, according to Bloomberg.

He overtook fellow Indian tycoon to become the region's wealthiest person in February, CNN reported.

His shot up the global wealth rankings comes as some members of the world's 1 per cent give away more of their resources.

In July, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced he would devote $20 billion to the endowment of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and reiterated his intention to move "off of the list of the world's richest people".

Bill Gates is currently ranked the world's fifth most affluent person, according to Bloomberg's index, with a net worth of $117 billion, CNN reported.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS) India seems to be enjoying the 'There Is No Alternative' (TINA) factor, as globally all countries are facing the churn and India seems to the best placed jurisdiction in terms of growth and inflation outlook in FY23, according to the SBI Ecowrap report.

This optimism is because China is also facing a bleak outlook on the back of a construction sector meltdown. In fact, report believes that the China story may now be facing clear headwinds and India is likely to benefit from such stark realities over the longer term.

The trends in prices of both retail and commercial real estate in China now show much deeper structural adjustment. The long-term trends in retail prices show that since 2016, prices have been steadily declining along the linear trend.

In 2022, even the nominal price index has witnessed degrowth which is a worrying sign. The real price index growth has been in negative growth since December 2021. Home sales in China have fallen for 11 months in a row, official data shows. That is the longest slump since China created a private property market in the late 1990s.

Chinese demographers are now predicting that negative population growth in China will be the dominant trend in the coming years for a long time and improving the overall quality of the population and changing economic development plans are vital to address the problem.

With ageing, size of the family will gradually shrink. The housing demand will eventually decline in the long run in China as seen in Japan. The future outlook of the construction sector in China over the long run structural factors such as demographic ageing and rebalancing of economy will eventually remove a substantial portion of demand.

India is likely to be the beneficiary as China slows down in terms of new investment intentions.

Since the default by Evergrande group, once hailed as the toast of Chinese infrastructure resurgence, the financial situation of the construction sector in China has steadily moved southwards.

The debt default by Evergrande group spread to other large and mid-tier construction companies. Listed developers' share prices have fallen US$55 billion during 2022, while the sector's dollar notes have fallen by more than US$35 billion. Bank loans to the real estate sector have dropped for the first time in 10 years.

--IANS
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Geneva, Aug 30 (IANS) Israeli President Isaac Herzog reiterated his country's concerns about Iran's nuclear strategy ahead of a possible deal to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons.

The international community must never remain silent about Tehran's attempts to spread terror in the region and wipe Israel off the map, Herzog said during a meeting with Swiss President Ignazio Cassis in Bern on Monday.

"We expect the family of nations to make this point crystal clear: The international community, and the nations that so proudly push for international peace, should not accept calls and efforts to eradicate a sovereign member state of the UN," dpa news agency quoted the Israeli President as saying.

Iran's behaviour "cannot be met with silence", Herzog said.

"Iran's activities cannot go unpunished. And most critically, such a state must not be allowed to possess nuclear capabilities. Iran must be denied such capabilities by all means necessary."

Efforts are under way to revive the 2015 Vienna agreement to set controls on Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Tehran insists its nuclear research activities are solely for civilian use.

However, Israel has repeatedly slammed the current version of the deal.

Herzog's comments came a day after Prime Minister Yair Lapid warned that Iran would just bide its time until it can return to weapons building and that the deal does not include strict enough monitoring to ensure Iranian compliance.

--IANS
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