Building an Empire: The Secret Behind Gautam Adani's Rapid Growth and Success

Adani Group's founder Gautam Adani is currently Asia's top and the world's 3rd richest person with a net worth of over $150 billion. His position in the billionaire ranking is now just behind SpaceX's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos. In terms of wealth, the Indian industrialist position is even above Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate operating businesses in India, Australia, Indonesia, and Myanmar. Adani Group started its journey in 1988 through the export-import company. At present, Adani Group conducts business in sectors such as coal mining, port management, airport operation, energy, real estate, etc. Let's know how a university dropout made it to the world's top rich list.

Gautam Adani was born in 1962 in Gujarat, India. He is from the Jain family with 7 siblings. After finishing school he enrolled for Bachelor's Degree in Commerce at Gujarat University but dropped out after the second year. His father was a textile merchant. But Gautam has no interest in his father's business.

Adani moved to Mumbai in 1978. He worked as a diamond sorter for Mahendra Brothers. His elder brother bought a plastics unit in Ahmedabad in 1981 and invited him to manage the operations. Through PVC imports he finds his gateway to global trading. In 1988, Adani established Adani Exports which is currently known as Adani Enterprises. In 1991 as India embarked upon the liberalization of economic policies, it unlocked new business opportunities for several first-generation entrepreneurs. It turned out favorable for his company and expanded the business into trading metals, textiles, and agro products. Those observing Adani, say scale matters the most to him and that's how he builds wealth for himself and his investors. In 2011, At about $10 billion net worth, Adani was less-known outside his home state, Gujarat. As a university dropout and the son of a trader, the 60-year-old first-generation entrepreneur has become the world's richest man by constructing and purchasing essential energy and infrastructure assets at lightning speed. Unlike many of his competitors, there is none of the obvious financial profligacy that broke many of his rivals in recent years.

In 2022, Adani was named 3rd richest person in the world by Fortune surpassing Mukesh Ambani. The same year, the Adani family acquired Ambuja Cement and its subsidiary ACC from Holcim Group for $10.5 billion. Also, they declared their plan to buy RRPR Holding, a company that is the owner of NDTV.

The rise of Gautam Adani started much before Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001. The establishment of the Mundra port complex which is now the biggest private port, started when the Congress was in power in Gujarat. Adani's growth is primarily linked with policies favorable to his businesses. Nobody is denying that he continued to grow under PM Modi. Sharp businessmen like Adani know how to make the best of whatever governments they work with. During PM Modi's visit to Australia, he was criticized by Congress Party for lobbying Adani for setting up the $7 billion Carmichel Coal Project in Australia. Eventually, Adani got approval from the Australian government including the opposition party. As admitted by Adani, Modi's pro-business policies have helped his business expand. Adani's companies were in fact responsible for building many of the grand projects that came to represent the Gujarat Model with infrastructure investment, foreign capital, and export industries. The credit for Adani's growth cannot be given to anyone. Adani is only responsible for his recent growth.

Gautam Adani is married to Priti Adani, who is one of the leading women educators in the state of Gujarat. Currently, she is the Chairman of Adani Group. The couple has two sons named Karan and Jeet Adani. 

Gautam Adani was among the hostages of Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace hotel during terror attacks that killed more than 160 people in 2008. The gunfire started when he was in the Taj hotel's restaurant having dinner with the CEO of Dubai ports. He describes that he hid in the kitchen and the toilet for hours together before coming out safe.

Adani is the owner of the Adani Foundation, which was founded in 1996. Other than Gujarat, the organization operates in several states of India. During, the Covid-19 outbreak, he contributed 100 crore rupees to the PM Cares Fund. Adani acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport in 2020. Adani wants to be the world's largest producer of green energy and has said he will invest up to $70 billion in renewable energy projects.