Gautam AdaniImage credit source: PTI
Gautam Adani, a well-known industrialist of the country, applied for higher education in a college in Mumbai in the 1970s, but the college rejected his application. He did not study further but turned to business and built a $220 billion empire in about four and a half decades. Today in the same college he was called to give a lecture to the students on Teacher’s Day. Let us also tell you what he said on this occasion.
This college did not give admission
Jai Hind College Alumni Association President Vikram Nankani introducing Adani, one of India’s richest men, said he came to Mumbai at the age of 16 and started grading diamonds. He applied for admission to Jai Hind College in the city in 1977 or 1978. But his application was rejected. He applied to Jai Hind College as his elder brother Vinod was studying in the same college earlier.
Dropped studies and started business
Granting alumni status to Gautam Adani, Nankani said, fortunately or unfortunately, the college did not accept his application and he started doing his own work and pursuing an alternative career. He worked as a diamond cutter for about two years. He then returned to his home state of Gujarat to run a packaging factory. This factory was run by his brother. After starting his company in commodities in 1998, Adani has never looked back. Over the next two and a half decades, his companies ventured into sectors such as ports, mines, infrastructure, power, city gas, renewable energy, cement, real estate, data centers and media.
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13 ports and 7 airports
Today, Adani companies are involved in various businesses. In the infra sector, his company also manages 13 ports and seven airports in the country. Today his group is the largest private sector unit in the power sector as well. Not only that, his company is the largest producer of new energy, runs the country’s second largest cement company, is building expressways and redeveloping Asia’s largest slum. Some have called him the most aggressive of India’s new generation of entrepreneurs.
Let’s ask these questions today
Delivering a lecture on Breaking Boundaries: The Power of Passion and Unconventional Paths to Success, 62-year-old Adani said he was just 16 when he decided to break his first boundary. He said it had to do with dropping out of school and heading to an unknown future in Mumbai. People still ask me why did you come to Mumbai? Why didn’t you finish your education? Adani said the answer lies in the heart of every young dreamer who sees limitations not as obstacles but as challenges that test his courage.
A business field makes a good teacher
He said that I wondered if I had the courage to live my life in the most important city of our country. Mumbai was the training ground for his business as he learned how to grade and trade diamonds. Adani said that the field of business makes good teachers. I learned long ago that an entrepreneur can never stand still by overestimating the options before him. Mumbai taught me to think big. You must first have the courage to dream beyond your limits.
What happened after economic liberalization?
Adani formed a trade consortium in the 1980s to import polymers to supply struggling small industries. He said that when I turned 23, my business venture was going well. He established a global business house dealing in polymers, metals, textiles and agro-products after the economic liberalization of 1991. He was only 29 years old then. Adani said that in two years we have become the largest global business house in the country. Then I realized the combined value of both speed and scale.
The first IPO was in 1994
After this, in 1994, we decided it was time to get listed and Adani Exports came out with its IPO (Initial Public Offering) now known as Adani Enterprises, Adani said. The decision to bring IPO was successful and it made me realize the importance of stock market. They realized that to break even further boundaries, they first had to start by challenging their status quo and investing in assets to provide a strong foundation.
This is how Mundra port came to be
Adani In the mid-1990s, global commodities trader Kargil approached them for a partnership to produce and source salt from the Kutch region of Gujarat. He said that though the partnership did not succeed, we were left with about 40,000 acres of wetlands and permission to construct a jetty for private use at Mundra (in Gujarat) to export salt. What others saw as a marshy wasteland, he saw as a vast expanse awaiting rejuvenation. The area is now India’s largest port.
He said Mundra today has India’s largest port, largest industrial special economic zone, largest container terminal, largest thermal power plant, largest solar manufacturing facility, largest copper plant and largest edible oil refinery. Not only this, we are using only 10 percent of what Mundra will become.
Now a new energy park is being built
Adani said they are now building the world’s largest new energy park in Kutch and redeveloping the Dharavi slum in Mumbai. He said that although we have helped redefine India’s infrastructure in airports, ports, logistics, industrial parks and energy, it is not victory that defines us. It is this mindset to face and overcome challenges that has beautifully shaped the journey of the Adani Group.
