Gautam Adani

Early life and education

Adani was born on 24 June 1962 in a Gujarati Jain family to Shantilal and Shantaben Adani in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He has seven siblings. His parents had migrated from the town of Tharad in the northern part of Gujarat. His father was a small textile merchant.

Adani was educated at Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Vidyalaya school in Ahmedabad, but dropped out when he was 16. Adani was keen on business, but not his father's textile business.

Career

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 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 February 2022, he became Asia's richest person, surpassing Mukesh Ambani, and in August 2022, he was named the 3rd richest person in the world by Fortune.

Adani Group

Main article: Adani Group

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 210.150 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 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.

In September 2020, Adani acquired a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport, India's second busiest after Delhi.

In May 2022, Adani family acquired Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC from Swiss building materials giant Holcim Group for $10.5 billion, through an overseas special-purpose entity.

In August 2022, AMG Media Networks Limited (AMNL), a unit of Adani Group, declared that it planned to buy RRPR Holding, owner of 29.18% of national news broadcaster NDTV, and made an open offer to buy a further 26%. In a statement, NDTV said that Adani acquired his stake via a third party without informing the company's founders, former journalist Radhika Roy and her economist husband Prannoy Roy and that the deal was done “without discussion, consent or notice.” This bid also raised concern regarding editorial independence in India, since Adani is considered to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. By December 2022, Adani was described as controlling the largest shareholding in NDTV. The Economist said that before Adani bought NDTV, the news channel was "critical of the government but is now supine."

In 2025, Gautam Adani attended the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj with his family, including his wife, Priti Adani. During the event, the Adani Group collaborated with ISKCON to organize Mahaprasad Seva, an initiative that provided free meals to devotees throughout the festival, which took place from January 13 to February 26, 2025.

Controversies

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 2012, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) filed a charge sheet against twelve accused including Adani for cheating & criminal conspiracy related to the 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 & others accused of this case in May 2014. However, in 2020, a Mumbai sessions court overturned the clean chit to Adani in this case.

Hindenburg's report

Main article: Adani-Hindenburg row}}In January 2023, Adani and his companies were accused of stock manipulation by [New York City, [New York]]-based investment firm [[Hindenburg Research]] in a report titled "Adani Group: How The World's 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History". Following that, Adani Group stocks plummeted $45 billion. The losses resulted in Adani dropping from the 3rd richest person in the world to 22nd on Forbes' billionaires tracker.{{Cite news, [Dawn]]](dawn), [Mint]]](mint)

The Adani Group said that the Hindenburg Research report was "malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale" information, and that they were "evaluating the relevant provisions under U.S. and Indian laws for remedial and punitive action against Hindenburg Research". Reuters reported that it was unlikely that the Adani Group would sue Hindenburg in the U.S. because American courts usually regard financial analysis as protected opinion under American free speech laws. The Adani Group published a 413-page rebuttal to the claims by Hindenburg Research.

OCCRP report

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported in August 2023 that it had documents which prove how the Adani Group used individuals and front companies to buy and sell Adani stocks thus bypassing Indian securities laws that seek to prevent share price manipulation. The OCCRP named two individuals — Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling — as being responsible for stock trading in and on behalf of Adani Group stocks amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bribery charges

On 21 November 2024, Gautam Adani and his associates were charged by a district court in New York for paying bribes of more than US$250 million to Indian government officials in order to obtain favourable energy contracts. Prosecutors also claimed that Adani group had raised billion in loans and bonds by concealing the scheme from American investors through false and misleading statements. Following the news his net worth fell by $12 billion.

As a result of the indictments, Kenya canceled over US$2.5 billion in regards to the takeover of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and other energy deals. There were concerns in Kenya that they could be liable for breach of contract costs.

Bhagalpur land allocation

In September 2025, the Indian National Congress accused the Central Government of "gifting" 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, Bihar, to Adani Power Limited for a thermal power plant project under highly favourable terms. The claim is that the land was leased for Re 1 per year for a period of 33 years, and included about ten lakh trees growing on that land.

Political views

Adani is widely known for being close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. This has led to allegations of cronyism as his firms have won many Indian energy and infrastructure government contracts. An Indian government auditor accused Modi in 2012 of giving low cost fuel from a Gujarat state-run gas company to Adani and other businesspeople, during Modi's chief ministership of the state.

Adani and Modi have both denied allegations of cronyism. The Economist has described Adani as "a master operator", skilled at "navigating the complicated legal and political landscape of Indian capitalism," although the magazine cautions that his firm is known for its "Byzantine" structure and opaque finances.

The Resurgent Group of Gujarat (RGG) was founded as a rival organisation by local businessmen with Adani as its chairman, after leaders of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) criticized Modi's management of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Personal life

Gautam Adani married Priti Vora, a dentist, in 1986 and have two sons, Karan and Jeet. Priti Adani is the chairperson of Adani Group’s philanthropic arm, the Adani Foundation. Karan is CEO of Adani Ports & SEZ. Jeet leads the Adani Airports business and the Adani Digital Labs.

In January 1998, Adani and an associate, Shantilal Patel, were allegedly abducted and held hostage for ransom. Two former gangsters Fazl-ur-Rehman and Bhogilal Darji, were accused of the kidnapping. They were acquitted in an Indian court in 2018, after Adani and Patel did not show up for depositions, despite multiple summons by the court.

Adani was in the restaurant of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai having dinner with the CEO of Dubai Ports at 21:50 on 26 November 2008 when the hotel was attacked by terrorists. The terrorists were only 15 ft away from them. Adani hid in the hotel kitchen and later in the toilet and came out safely at 08:45 the next day.

References

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