Mukesh Ambani Isn't The Richest Asian Anymore, Loses $5.8 Bn To Virus Fears, Jack Ma Ranks 1st

As coronavirus slows down global economy and wipes of millions from share market, the effect of the same is being witnessed on the richest Asians. Mukesh Ambani, still the richest Indian, is not the richest Asian any longer. After the oil prices collapsed along with global stocks, Ambani lost $5.8 billion from his net worth on Monday and was pushed to No. 2 on the list of Asia¡¯s richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ma, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder who enjoyed the No 1 ranking in mid-2018, is back on top with a $44.5 billion fortune, about $2.6 billion more than Ambani, according to a Bloomberg report.

On Monday, oil plunged the most in 29 years as Saudi Arabia and Russia vowed to pump more in a struggle for market share.

The decline in demand is a first in more than a decade.

Even though coronavirus has cut tech giant Alibaba's business, the damage has been mitigated by rise in demand for cloud computing services and mobile apps.

Reliance Industries has suffered a big blow due to economic recession over coronavirus fears and a dip in markets. Reliance Industries' shares plunged 12 per cent on Monday, the most since 2009, extending this year¡¯s decline to 26 per cent.

Alibaba¡¯s American depository receipts have slipped 6.8 per cent so far in 2020.

At a meeting last week, Saudi Arabia led a push by OPEC ministers to reduce output to counter the impact of the coronavirus outbreak - but it hinged on agreement from the group's allies, foremost among them Moscow.

However Russia, the world's second largest oil producer, refused to tighten supply - and Riyadh then drove through the biggest cuts to prices in 20 years on Sunday, unleashing pandemonium on crude markets.

At least in the oil sector, the global health emergency posed by the spread of the novel coronavirus and Saudi Arabia declaring a price war, is going to India's benefit.

India's oil import bill is expected to fall by a sharper 10 per cent in FY20 as the increasing spread of coronavirus and now the fallout of talks between OPEC and Russia has depressed the crude oil prices to about $30 a barrel now against a high of over $70 a barrel in September and again in January this year.

For FY21, the import bill could slip to half of current levels at $64 billion witnessed in FY16 when crude had fallen to $26 a barrel for some time.