Gautam Adani

Gautam Shantilal Adani (born 24 June 1962) is an Indian billionaire business magnate, who is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate involved in port development and operations in India.

Adani has been described as being close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government.

This has led to allegations of cronyism, as his firms have won many energy and infrastructure contracts in India and abroad after Modi became the Prime Minister of India.

In January 2023, the American short selling activist firm Hindenburg Research accused Adani of stock manipulation and fraud.

In January 2024, the Supreme Court resolved the Adani Group stocks dispute arising from Hindenburg Research's allegations.

The Court dismissed requests for an SIT or CBI investigation.

Adani's and his family's fortune has plummeted by over 50% to an estimated US$54.2 billion, as of October 2023, while falling to the 23rd place on the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list.

As of February 2024, his fortune was estimated to be US$82.3 billion, placing him at the 16th place on the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list.

In 2022, Times Magazine included him in the 100 most influential people in the world.

Adani was born on 24 June 1962 in a Gujarati Jain family to Shantilal Adani (father) and Shantaben Adani (mother) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

He has 7 siblings.

His parents had migrated from the town of Tharad in the northern part of Gujarat.

His father was a small textile merchant.

He was educated at Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Vidyalaya school in Ahmedabad.

He enrolled for a bachelor's degree in commerce at Gujarat University, but dropped out after the second year.

Adani was keen on business, but not his father's textile business.

As a teenager, Adani moved to Mumbai in 1978 to work as a diamond sorter for Mahendra Brothers.

In 1981, his elder brother Mahasukhbhai Adani bought a plastics unit in Ahmedabad and invited him to manage the operations.

This venture turned out to be Adani's gateway to global trading through polyvinyl chloride (PVC) imports.

In 1985, he started importing primary polymers for small-scale industries.

In 1988, Adani established Adani Exports, now known as Adani Enterprises, the holding company of the Adani Group.

Originally, the company dealt in agricultural and power commodities.

In 1991, the economic liberalisation policies turned out to be favourable for his company and he started expanding the businesses into trading of metals, textiles, and agro products.

In 1994, the Government of Gujarat announced managerial outsourcing of the Mundra Port and in 1995, Adani obtained the contract.

In 1995, he set up the first jetty.

Originally operated by Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone, the operations were transferred to Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ).

Today, the company is the largest private multi-port operator.

Mundra Port is the largest private sector port in India, with the capacity of handling close to 210 million tons of cargo per annum.

In 1996, the power business arm of the Adani Group, Adani Power, was founded by Adani.

Adani Power holds thermal power plants with a capacity of 4620MW, the largest private thermal power producer of the country.

In 2002, Adani was arrested by Delhi Police in execution of a non-bailable warrant (NBW), following a cheating complaint by a top official of M S Shoes.

The court withdrew the NBW the next day, after the court was informed that the parties were negotiating for a compromise.

In 2006, Adani entered the power generation business.

From 2009 to 2012, he acquired Abbot Point Port in Australia and Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.

In 2012, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had filed a charge sheet against twelve accused including the Adani for cheating & criminal conspiracy related to purchase and sale of shares.

According to SFIO, Adani Agro allegedly provided funds and shares for running illegal activities.

A local court in Mumbai discharged Adani & other accused of this case in May 2014.

However, in 2020, a Mumbai sessions court overturned the clean chit to Adani in this case.

In May 2020, Adani won the world's largest solar bid by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) worth US$6 billion.

The 8000MW photovoltaic power plant project will be taken up by Adani Green; Adani Solar will establish 2000MW of additional solar cell and module manufacturing capacity.