Avenue Supermarts founder and DMart promoter Radhakishan Damani is now India’s second richest billionaire with a wealth of $17.9 billion, the Forbes Real Times Billionaires Index showed.

Damani is now second only to Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, who is also the richest person in Asia.

Damani and family, which includes Radhakishan Damani, Gopikishan S Damani, Shrikantadevi R Damani and Kirandevi G Damani are promoters of Avenue Supermarts. They saw their wealth upsurge by close to $96 million as Avenue Supermarts' shares peaked at Rs 2,559 apiece on February 13.

The shares climbed after the company on February 5 approved the launch of a qualified institutional placement (QIP) to the tune of 20,000,000 shares, which would translate in an issue size of around Rs 4,000 crore at current market prices.

Later on February 7, sources told Moneycontrol an offer for sale (OFS) for Rs 3,500 crore or $500 million is also likely soon. This is likely to be 2.28 percent stake.

The OFS will open for retail investors on February 17 but has already opened on February 14 for its non-retail investors. The initial m-cap stood at Rs 39,998 crore but it has ballooned to Rs 1.58 lakh crore.

The QIP and OFS plans are in line with the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) rule on minimum public shareholding (MPS) for listed companies. The rule stipulates that promoters cannot own more than 75 percent and that public shareholders should own a minimum of 25 percent.

From the launch of its first store in Powai, Mumbai in 2002, DMart today operates a retail business area of 5.9 million square feet and has 176 stores across 11 states and one Union Territory, according to its 2018 annual report.

In FY 18-19, Avenue Supermarts registered a revenue of Rs 19,916 crore and a profit of Rs 936 crore. The supermarket chain which operates on a low-cost model is present in three segments -- foods, non-foods and general merchandise and apparel -- with half of the revenue coming from the first segment.

It counts Future Retail, Trent, V-Mart Retail, Arvind Fashions and Spencers Retail as its listed peers.