Gautam Adani
| Gautam Adani | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
24 June 1962 Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India |
| Residence | Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Founder and Chairman of the Adani Group |
| Known for | the success of Adani Group |
| Net worth | US$ 3.9 billion (2012)[1] |
| Religion | Jainism |
| Spouse(s) | Priti Adani |
| Children |
Karan Adani Jeet Adani |
Gautam Adani (Gujarati:ગૌતમ અદાણી ; born 24 June 1962) is an Indian entrepreneur and self-made billionaire who is the Chairman of Adani Group. The Adani Group is a globally integrated infrastructure player with businesses spanning coal trading, coal mining, oil & gas exploration, ports, multi-modal logistics, power generation & transmission and gas distribution.[2] With business experience of more than 33 years, Gautam Adani is a first-generation entrepreneur who has led the Adani group from a modest background to create a $8 billion professionally managed empire in a relatively short period of time.[3] He is said to be among the 100 most influential businessmen worldwide in the shipping trade and developing shipping related infrastructure. He has also been recognized for establishing the modern Mundra port which was selected as the best port in 2006 by the oldest and the most influential British publication for shipping business, Lloyd.[4]
Early life
Gautam Adani was born into a Gujarati Jain family on 24 June 1962 in the Seth ni Pol area located in Ratanpol in Ahmedabad. He is the son of Shantilal and Shanta Adani and has seven siblings. His parents had migrated from the town of Tharad in the northern part of Gujarat in search of livelihood.
Career or Business
Choosing not to join his father’s textile unit in Ahmedabad, Gautam Adani instead preferred to move to Mumbai to try his luck. He started his career working as a diamond sorter at Mahindra Brothers for 2 years and then went on to set up his own diamond brokerage business in Mumbai, India. The trading initiative was a success. Young Gautam made his first million within a year, at the age of 20, a big deal during the 1980s.
This success caught the eye of Mahasukh Adani, Gautam’s elder brother and a self-made entrepreneur. Mahasukh called Gautam back to their hometown – Ahmedabad - a city in the western part of India, to run his newly purchased plastic factory.
Soon, Gautam began commodity trading by importing Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), a key raw material for manufacturing plastic. While working at his brother's plastics unit, Gautam Adani gained valuable working experience as he learnt the intricacies of commodity trade.[4]
The Adani Group had a quiet beginning, but Gautam’s entrepreneurial and ambitious vision, and rigorous hard work along with his talented and experienced management team made Adani Group one of the fastest growing professionally managed conglomerates in India.[5]
In 1988, he established Adani Exports Limited (now known as the Adani Enterprises Ltd), the flagship company of the Adani Group, that traded in a variety of power and agricultural commodities. The economic liberalization in 1991 fuelled the rapid growth of the business and the huge profitability of Adani Exports provided further capital for Gautam Adani to expand his business.
In 1993, the Gujarat government invited private companies to run the Mundra Port and in 1995 the contract was given to Adani Group. Today, Mundra Port is the largest Private Sector port in India, with capability of handling close to 80 million tonnes of cargo per annum.
Gautam Adani is also the Founder and Promoter of Adani Power Ltd (APL), a power business arm of Adani Group. Adani Power has delivered thermal power plant with capacity of 4620 MW, which has been a sole reason for the company to gain the prestige of being the largest private thermal power producer of the country.
Adani Power has its head office in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and is ranked #334 in top companies in India in Fortune India 500 list of 2011. Adani Power enjoys the status of being India’s largest solar power producer with capacity 40MW.
At present, APL maneuvers 4x330MW & 5x660MW at Mundra, Gujrat in addition to a Mega solar plant of 40MW at Bitta Naliya in Kutch District, Gujrat, 2x660MW at Kawai, Rajasthan & 5x660MW at Tirora, Maharashtra. Thermal power plants of Adani are also under progress at Bhadreshwar, Dahej in Gujarat & chattisgarh, Pench etc. The thermal power plant at Mundra is the single thermal power plant in the country that has won the certification by UN under CDM. Besides, it is the first company in India to obtain the supercritical technology.[6]
Activism
In 1996, Gautam Adani set up the Adani Foundation as the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the Adani Group for undertaking activities to ensure sustainable development and create harmony with people residing in the neighborhood of the Group's operations. The Group invests ~3% of profit in community initiatives through the Adani Foundation. Adani Foundation operates in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh and runs projects in four key areas:[5][7]
- Education- Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management in Ahmedabad and the Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhuj.
- Community Health- clinics (No citation provided)
- Rural Infrastructure Development- typically at the local community level (No citation provided)
- Sustainable Livelihood-
References
- ↑ Profile
- ↑ "adani enterprises ltd (ADANIENT:National Stock Exchange of India)". Bloomberg Businessweek.
- ↑ "Billionaire who Beat the System". India Today. August 20, 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Gautam Adani". Success Stories. July 16, 2011.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Gautam Adani". Business Maps of India.
- ↑ "APL synchronises country's first supercritical power plant". Economic Times. December 23, 2010.
- ↑ "Adani staff donate blood". Business Line. June 29, 2011.
Ganguly, Dibeyendu: Adani Group now too big to be a one-man show: How fast can Gautam Adani; The Economic Times Jun 22, 2012,