Fraud claims have upended the fortunes of Asia's richest man

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani wiped out more than $20bn (£16bn) of his fortune on Friday after investors dumped his companies for a second day due to fraudulent claims made by a US investment firm. credit-google

The Adani Group has dismissed the report as malicious, but the response has failed to stop the uproar.

India's main opposition party has recently demanded an inquiry.

The firm's publicly listed companies have lost about $50 billion in market value.

Shares of the firm's flagship Adani Enterprises fell nearly 20% on Friday

While some other publicly listed firms of the group declined further, leading to automatic closure of trading in Mumbai.

As per the publication, Mr. Adani has moved from the third richest person in the world to the seventh spot on the Forbes rich list, with an estimated net worth of over $96 billion. credit-google

Hindenburg Research, a firm that specializes in "short-selling", or betting against a company's share price in hopes of credit-google

The report came ahead of a planned share sale for Adani Enterprises, which now appears to be in low demand. credit-google

Several Indian banks and state-owned insurance companies have either invested billions of dollars in or given loans to companies affiliated with the Adani Group. credit-google

But the broader stock market has been hit by the episode, helping to send India's benchmark Nifty 50 stock index down more than 1% on Friday. credit-google