by A self-made billionaire, Gautam Adani is the chairman of India’s largest private port and has a diverse portfolio in the energy sector. An Indian businessman and owner of one of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group. Later Gautam Adani is becomes the founder and chairman of Mundra Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Gautam Adani is the head of conglomerate Adani Group. With a net worth of $9.1 billion, he is one of the richest men in Asia.
Life of Gautam Adani
Born in a Business family
He was born on June 24, 1962, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to Gujarati parents who were textile merchants. On the other hand, he has seven brothers and sisters.
Education of Adani
He studied at Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad. Later he dropped his bachelor’s degree in commerce (Bsc) in second year from Gujarat University. When he was still in his teens, he started his first business importing steel from Japan for a Gujarat-based firm and also took up import of coffee, tea and spices.
Therefore, Adani started his own coal trading company in Bombay (now Mumbai) at the age of 14. At the age of 15, Gautam Adani got a license to import coal from Indonesia due to a lack of coal. Therefore, At the age of 19, Adani first floated the private Indian Coal Development Company Ltd., that mined and exported substantial quantities of coal from Indonesia.
Early Career of Gautam Adani
His professional career began with a job as an intern engineer for Bharat Bhari Auwal Ltd., where he stayed for about two years before joining Eicher Motors Ltd., one of India’s biggest private companies with a turnover exceeding $6 billion annually. In 1988, he started the Mundra port as a joint venture with the Tata Group. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Adani built electricity plants around India, including in Rajasthan and Gujarat to supply power to his ports. He also expanded into coal mining from Australia to Mozambique and Indonesia through his ports in India. In 2008 Gautam Adani set up a thermal power plant at Mundra with 6,000MW capacity; it becomes one of the world’s largest coal-powered plants.
The Adani Group includes several business entities in India, with major interests in energy, infrastructure, ports and real estate.
The rise of Gautam Adani
In 2014, Forbes India recognized Gautam Adani as one of the 50 most influential people in India. Later, he was ranked the 3rd richest man in Asia in Forbes’s Billionaires list in the same year. His net worth was estimated at $12.9 billion In 2015. Which making him India’s richest man and 39th wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes.
In 2012 he bought Essar Oil from Ruia group for a little over Rs 30 billion. He changed its name to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ).
Adani Enterprises (India) Ltd was established in Dubai as a joint venture with The Adani Group in 2007.
In 2005, Adani started the first furniture manufacturing plant in Mumbai and had made around Rs 400 crore by 2007.
Trust of Gautam for donation
In 2001, he founded the Gautam Adani University Trust (GAUT) to spread higher education across India. The Foundation encourages students from disadvantaged communities to study and become educated to change their socio-economic status. In 2002, he established an institute of International Business at Mundra SEZ in Gujarat with an initial capacity of 200 seats, which now has a total capacity of 1200 seats.
Expansion of the Adani group
In 1990, Gautam Adani established the Mundra SEZ in Gujarat as an industrial hub. The SEZ has since expanded and now includes three ports, two power plants, and a coal mine. It also houses manufacturing units for automobiles, home appliances, paint, and tires. By early 2017, Adani Ports and Special economic zones will start construction of its fourth port at the Jawaharpur locality near Kolkata in West Bengal at an investment of Rs 9300 crore. Therefore, the port will attract an investment of Rs 71000 crore including construction cost (up to Rs 13000 crore) attached with this project. The proposed port will be a deep-water all-weather greenfield port adjacent to the New Port at Kolkata.
Becoming the Richest man in asia
Gautam Adani earns the world’s largest solar bid by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) worth US$6 billion. SECI is a company that operates in the renewable energy sector. These solar projects built near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. It was the third-largest grid-tied solar plant in India after Rajasthan Renewable Energy Park and Telangana’s Bhadla Solar Park.
Gautam Adani recently acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport for ₹1.34 trillion in september 2020. Therefore, company is now known as the GMR Group. As a result, they holds assets valued at ₹2 trillion (USD 31 billion). Gautam Adani is also one of India’s most influential businessmen with interests in mining, real estate development and port management.
