INTRODUCTION.
1. Mr Gautam Adani is the chairman & founder of the Adani Group. He is currently the 3rd richest man is the world with a net worth of over $148 Billion. He is in news because of the fast pace with which he has acquired the riches & the infrastructure pan India and abroad.
EARLY LIFE.
2. Mr Gautam Adani was born to Shantilal & Shantaba Adani on the auspicious day of June 24th, 1962. He came from a very humble family background. His father was a modest textile merchant and mother was a homemaker. The genes of being a businessman were right there since the beginning by virtue of him being a Gujarati and his father being textile merchant. He dropped out of college in his second year and moved to Mumbai to earn living by sorting diamonds.
3. He later returned to help his uncle in his business of plastic. It is from this business that Gautam Adani started the planned import of the plastic polymers. In 1988, he started the Adani Exports for oil & coal. This company later became Adani Enterprises i.e., the holding incubator company of the group. Subsequently he expanded his reach into the fields of textile and metals.
RISE OF GAUTAM ADANI
4. In a strategic step during 1994 he bought a port named Mundra in Gujarat and developed it for import export. The strategic step gave him a kick start. This opened up his options to enter into various other fields like Wilmar, SEZ, Power Generation. Another landmark deal came through in 2001 when he got the license to distribute gas in the city of Ahmedabad.
5. Later in 2008 and beyond, he grew beyond India and acquired coal mine in Indonesia and Australia. In 2015 he entered the Solar power generation field. He not only eyed the ports but the airports as well. In 2020, he bought the Mumbai airport from GVK. He has got a total of 7 public companies under his wings. These make Gautam Adani a market leader in transport logistics and Energy portfolio.
GAUTAM ADANI – FAMILY ETHOS
6. He is a firm believer in family ethos. Out of a total of 26 board members 7 are the Adani family members including Gautam Adani himself.
Gautam Adani – Chairman, Adani Group
Rajesh Adani (Younger Brother) – MD
Dr Priti Adani (Wife) – Chairperson, Adani Foundation
Pranav Adani (Nephew) – MD (Argo, Oil & Gas)
Karan Adani (Eldest son of Gautam) – CEO, Adani Ports & SEZ
Sagar Adani (Son of Rajesh Adani) – Executive Director (AGEL)
Jeet Adani (Youngest Son of Gautam Adani) – VP, Group Finance
7. Such is the close-knit family of Gautam. He has admitted that the entire family has lunch together while in office. They take this opportunity to discuss business issues and make it a point to find an amicable solution. These informal meetings give them a chance to listen other members and forms a bond as well. No matter how busy the schedule is, they still have lunch together.
BUSINESS & ACQUISITIONS
8. The majority of the growth of Adani came from acquisitions like cement and ports. A total of 35 of them were made during the past 5 years for a total of Rs 1.6 lakh Crore. The major branches of the Adani group include: –
Adani Ports & SEZ – 15 Ports
- Adani Airports – Total 7 airports under its management
- Adani Power – Total capacity of 14000 MW
- Adani Green Energy – 5400MW installed solar capacity
- Adani Total Gas – City gas distribution agency
- Adani Transmission (Transmission of power generated)
- Adani Wilmar (Fortune Cooking Oil)
- Adani Enterprises (India’s largest Coal importer)
9. Recently the Adani Group has won the bid to acquire 400MHz of bandwidth out of 26GHz of 5G space. The paid price would be Rs 212 Crore. This marks his entry into the communications sector. The group has announced 6 circles for this purpose. These circles include four circles of 50MHz each at Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan & Tamil Nadu while two centers of 100 MHz each at Gujarat & Mumbai. His digital infrastructure portfolio includes Data centers in India, Terrestrial Fiber, Submarine Cables, Industrial Cloud & AI innovation labs. He eyes media & healthcare as next big forays. Same is evident as talks of acquisitions of NDTV are underway.
10. In addition to the forays in India, the foreign governments are also approaching the Adani group to build infrastructure.
Australia – Mines, Railways & Ports. 10 million tonnes of thermal coal per year is being produced and shipped to India.
Sri Lanka – Ports & Renewable Energy
Israel – 70% stake in Haifa port
11. Copper Plant. It was a foresightedness on part of Adani Group to realize that with increase in the use of EVs and Clean Energy the demand for copper will also go up. Thus, the group acquired the Kutch Copper Ltd as an arm. It was acquired for a loan of Rs 6000 Crore.
12. Mundra Port. 35000 acres of land was acquired for this. It is an all weather port. Near to it the Mundra Thermal Power station was set up and then came the initiative to distribute the power generated.
13. Kamuthi Solar, Tamil Nadu. 2500 acres of land acquired and a total of 2.5Million solar modules will be set up.
14. Adani Defense & Aerospace. The group is into manufacturing of UAVs in Hydrabad with an Israeli firm. Further, the Gripen series fighter jets are also planned to be made in India.
$70 BILLION FOR GREEN ENERGY
15. With the aim to provide integrated manufacturing support to the bid, Adani has planned to invest a total of $70 Billion to the field of Green Energy. The allied fields will include: –
- Wind & Solar – $20 Billion
- Green Hydrogen & Petroleum – $20 Billion
- Transition from Polluting Businesses – $5 Billion
- Natural Gas infrastructure – $4 Billion
- Power Transmission – $2 Billion
- Solar & Wind energy equipment – $4 Billion
- Battery & Fuel Cells – $15 Billion
- CONCERNS OVER DEBT
16. Unrelated Businesses. Group is investing in nearly every field. Though according to Adani all these are according to his theory of adjacency. Need for one falls out from the previous one and are a part of overall acquisitions.
17. Banks at Risk. A total bank loan of approximately Rs 3 lakh Crores makes the group high in debt. Will the group be able to pay the debt off. 2021% is the debt to equity ratio of the group.
18. Management Capacity. Will the group be able to handle such diversified portfolio?
19. 5G Battlespace. Both the giants have started to venture into the 5G space. The Ambani & The Adani. This battle for the power share is going to be interesting.
VISION
20. Atmnirbharta se Bharatnirbharta. He has a vision to cut the dependency on China for the Solar Modules. In an interview to the fortune, he spoke about planned production of modules in India. He told that since Silica is abundantly available in India, it can be used to produce polysilicon ingots and wafers. Which will further help in production of Solar Cells & Modules. His story has been the exact replica of the graph of India’s growth story.
MEDHINI ENERGIES CONGRATULATES THE ADANI GROUP.
To read the interview with The Fortune click here. To read our latest blogs and interesting articles visit www.medhinienergies.com.