HOW GAUTAM ADANI WORLD 4 RICHEST PERSON

 

Mr Gautam Adani is currently in the news because he has left Warren Buffet behind and has become the 4th richest person in the world.

Gautam Shantilal Adani (born 24 June 1962) is an Indian billionaire industrialist.[1] He is the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, an Ahmedabad-based multinational conglomerate involved in port development and operations in India.[2] Adani is also the president of the Adani Foundation, which is primarily led by his wife, Priti Adani. As of 30 July 2022, with a net worth of US$118.2 billion according to Forbes and Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is the richest person in India and Asia and the 4th richest person in the world.Born Gautam Shantilal Adani

24 June 1962 (age 60)

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Nationality Indian

Education Gujarat University (dropped out)

Known for Founder and chairman, Adani Group

President, Adani Foundation

Spouse(s) Priti Adani

Children Karan Adani (son)

Jeet Adani (son)

Relatives Paridhi Adani (daughter-in-law)

Pranav Adani (nephew)

Gautam Adani has been the only person in the world whose net worth has grown so much in the last year.So today, we will talk about what exactly happened in the last year That Gautam Adani's net worth grew so much.Has his business performed so well? Or only the valuation has increased?Or has he got the help from some of his connections?

Mr Gautam Adani's first business was of exports.And how did he enter this trade? It is an interesting story. In 1981, Gautam Adani's elder brother, Mansukh Bhai Adani, Called him from Mumbai to Gujrat to manage his plastic business. And there was an important component in his business, which was PVC.Which they had to purchase from other companies.

Gautam Adani spoke to many PVC companies in India.But no-one was ready to give them 20 tonne PVC, on a monthly basis. So they needed to import the PVC from somewhere else. So therefore, he started exploring the international market. And hereby, he also started acquiring the expertise  for the international market. He then started importing PVC from abroad. Not just that. Later on, he also started importing other things. Like Petroleum products, chemicals, etc. And very soon he created a business with it, called Adani exports. Mr Adani was always a very opportunistic businessman.

Wherever he gets the opportunity, he jumps in that area. And capitalises on that opportunity. In the beginning, he used to export agricultural products. Slowly, he understood that Metal and Textiles are also in huge demand in the foreign countries.                                              

Where we can export the Indian goods. He started importing those too and along with this, he also started having some political connections. For example, at that time with Chimanbhai Patel.

We will talk later about the political connections.But before that, let's talk about an important skill of Mr Adani, Which is being opportunistic. Gautam Adani saw one such big opportunity, in Gujrat's Mundra Port.

That time, the government decided to privatise the Mundra port, for its development and executing its day to day operations. And this contract went to the Adani Group. But the problem at that time was, apart from this port, in Gujrat, there were 12 ports under government control. And they were connected with the Railway line. And the Mundra port was not connected to the railway line. And, Mr Adani knew very well that whether it is a war or business,anyone who is controlling the logistics, will always be one step ahead. Therefore, he focussed on setting other group businesses around that port. So that they can reduce the cost of logistics. And the businesses can take the advantage of that.

Whether it was the Power business, edible oil refining or mining, he started them close to that port. And very soon after investing Rs 12000 Crores, he connected that port to the railways also. So as to solve the logistics problem as well. Today, the annual handling capacity of the Mundra port is 180 Million Tonnes. And it is one of the biggest privately owned port. To fully utilise it, he created an ecosystem. Today, the Adani group, apart from the Mundra Port, owns the Krishnapattanam port, Hazira port and 13 more ports and terminals. And Adani port has created an ecosystem around each of them.

Adani group started trading coal from here itself. And extended it further into thermal power generation. Hence,you would see that Adani mainly operates in 3 sectors. First one is Energy and Utilities, second is Transportation & logistics, and the third one is Incubation.

wherein airport, railway and water are included. So, it can be understood that whichever sector Adani group enters into, it all combines together to form a loose eco-system. And recently, they have also diversified into different sectors also.Like the real estate, edible oil, financial services etc. Speaking of the net worth of Mr Gautam Adani, his net worth is a combined figure from all these companies, like Adani Transmission, Adani Enterprises, Adani Port, Adani Greens etc.

If you look at all these businesses, they are either infrastructure related, or are something which need local government permissions to be run in India or abroad. or you need the local government contracts for the businesses. And here, we will talk about the political connections of Mr Gautam Adani. For which, he has been criticized many a times.To understand this, we need to take a glance at the government contracts of the Adani group. In 1993, when it was the matter of buying land at Mundra port, the then Chief Minister of Gujrat, Mr Chiman Bhai Patel, who was a part of the Congress Government, He was accused of giving away the land at Rs 0.10 per metre square.to the Adani group.In 1995, Keshu Bhai Patel, who was a BJP CM, he was accused of giving the land to Adani at Rs 1/metre square. Then from 1996 to 2007, Mr Shakar Singh Vaghela, who was from the Rashtriya Janta Party, disposed off the land at the rate of Rs 1.5/ square meter. Later, the Modi government at the rate of Rs 15/square meter, sold 5000 acres of land to Adanis. To this, the Adani Group has clarified that it was not an agricultural land. It was a non-usable land. So, we got it at a cheaper rate. The story does not end here.When in 2018, when many airports were being privatised,one particular change was brought about in the rules.

The change in the rule was that the bidder companyis not mandatorily required to have a prior experience in this field. And to be benefitted most by this decision was the Adani Group. Who at that time, won the bid for 6 ports. 

We are seeing that the Adani Group is now entering the FMCG sector. and they are taking credit for this purpose. Speaking of the Indian economy and the Indians, it is slowly becoming a credit economy.