Gautam Adani:
Chairperson of Adani Group.
Founder and head of the Adani Group, a global corporation engaged in port operations and development in India, Gautam Shantilal Adani (born 24 June 1962) is a billionaire businessman from India. He oversees the Adani Foundation as its president. Adani is the wealthiest person in Asia and the third richest person in the world as of December 2022, according to Forbes and Bloomberg, with a net worth of US$138.1 billion and $133 billion, respectively.
Early life:
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on June 24, 1962, Adani was born into a Jain household to Shantilal and Shantaben Adani. His sibling's number 7. His parents had left their hometown of Tharad in Gujarat's northern region. His father had a little business selling textiles. He received his education at Ahmedabad's Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Vidyalaya. He enrolled in Gujarat University to pursue a bachelor's in commerce, but he left after the first year. Adani loved business, but he didn't like his father's textile company.
Career:
Adani moved to Mumbai in 1978 while still a youngster to work as a diamond sorter for Mahendra Brothers.
His older brother Mahasukhbhai Adani purchased a plastics facility in Ahmedabad in 1981 and asked him to oversee operations. This business ended up serving as Adani's entry point into international trade through imports of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
He began importing basic polymers for small-scale companies in 1985. Adani created Adani Exports in 1988, the holding company for the Adani Group that is today known as Adani Enterprises. The corporation first traded in agricultural and energy-related commodities.
When economic liberalization policies proved advantageous for his firm in 1991, he began expanding into the trade of metals, textiles, and agricultural items.
The Gujarati government announced the management outsourcing of the Mundra Port in 1994, and Adani was awarded the contract in 1995.
He constructed the first jetty in 1995. The activities were once run by Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone, however, they were moved to Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ). The business is now the biggest private multi-port operator. The capacity of Mundra Port, India's biggest private-sector port, is close to 210 million tonnes of cargo per year.
Adani established Adani Electricity, the company's power division, in 1996. The biggest private producer of thermal electricity in the nation, Adani Power, has thermal power facilities with a combined capacity of 4620MW.
Adani began operating as a power-producing company in 2006. He bought the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland and Abbot Point Port in Australia between 2009 and 2012.
Adani won the $6 billion global solar auction by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in May 2020. Adani Green will take on the 8000MW photovoltaic power plant project, while Adani Solar will add 2000MW of additional solar cell and module production capacity.
Adani purchased a 74% share in Mumbai International Airport, India's second busiest airport after Delhi, in September 2020.
Speaking at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum in November 2021, Adani said that the company is spending US$70 billion on a new green energy venture. He provided further information in July 2022 on how this investment would be used to construct three enormous factories: solar, electrolyzer (to produce green hydrogen), and wind turbine plants.
He surpassed Mukesh Ambani to become the wealthiest person in Asia in February 2022. He was ranked third in terms of wealth in the world by Fortune in August 2022.
Through a foreign special-purpose corporation, the Adani family purchased Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC from Holcim Group in May 2022 for $10.5 billion.
AMG Media Networks Limited (AMNL), a division of the Adani Group, said in August 2022 that it intended to acquire RRPR Holding, which is the owner of 29.18% of the national news channel NDTV, and launched an open bid to acquire an additional 26%.
The company's founders, former journalist Radhika Roy and her economist husband Prannoy Roy, were not informed of Adani's acquisition of his interest via a third party, according to a statement from NDTV, and the transaction took place "without discussion, approval, or notification." Given that Adani is seen as being close to the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this move has sparked questions about journalistic independence in India.
Political views:
According to reports, Adani is linked to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the previous chief minister of Gujarat. As a result of his companies receiving several government contracts for infrastructure and energy in India, cronyism accusations have been raised. An Indian government, auditor accused Modi of providing Adani and other entrepreneurs with cheap gasoline from a Gujarat state-run gas firm in 2012. Both Adani and Modi have refuted claims of cronyism.
Personal life:
Priti Adani and Gautam Adani are wed. Jeet and Karan Adani are the couple's two sons. Adani and a friend, Shantilal Patel, were reportedly kidnapped on January 1, 1998, kept captive for a ransom and then released without receiving the money. In 2018, an Indian court cleared two former gangsters Fazl-ur-Rehman and Bhogilal Darji of the kidnapping charges after Adani and Patel failed to appear for depositions despite many court summonses.
During the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he was in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
Philanthropy:
The Adani Group provides funding for the Adani Foundation, which is owned by Adani. It was started back in 1996. The organization also works in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha in addition to Gujarat.
Through the philanthropic arm of his organization, he gave 100 crores (about US$13 million) to the PM Cares Fund in March 2020 to combat the coronavirus epidemic. The Gujarat CM Relief Fund received a donation of 5 crores (US$630,000), while the Maharashtra CM Relief Fund received a donation of 1 crore (US$130,000).
From Dammam in Saudi Arabia to Mundra in Gujarat, Adani Group, a multinational corporation headed by Adani, imported four ISO cryogenic tanks loaded with 80 metric tonnes of liquid medicinal oxygen. 5,000 oxygen cylinders of medical quality were also acquired by the firm from Linde Saudi Arabia. Adani said on Twitter that his organization delivers 1,500 cylinders of medical oxygen daily to Kutch, Gujarat, wherever it is required. Adani promised to pay Rs 60,000 crore ($7.7 billion) to philanthropic initiatives in June 2022. The Adani Foundation will manage Adani's corpus, making this one of the largest donations to a charitable trust in India.
