From commodity trading to infrastructure
Gautam Adani built his fortune from the ground up, starting with trading and then moving into the kind of large infrastructure that India's growing economy needed. In 1988 he set up Adani Exports, a commodities trading company based in Ahmedabad that dealt in goods such as agricultural products, metals and textiles. India's economic liberalization in 1991 opened the door to imports and exports on a much larger scale, and the business grew quickly.
The turning point came at Mundra on the coast of Gujarat. Adani's group won the right to develop a port there, and operations began in 1998. Mundra grew into one of the busiest commercial ports in India, and the company that runs it, now Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, became the country's largest private port operator, with terminals along both coasts and later abroad.
From ports the group moved into power generation, coal mining and trading, electricity transmission, city gas distribution and renewable energy. It later expanded into airports, cement, data centers and media. Several Adani companies are listed on Indian stock exchanges, and the Adani family holds large stakes in each of them, which form the basis of his wealth.
Adani Group companies
The group's major listed businesses include:
- Adani Enterprises: the flagship company, which incubates new businesses such as airports, mining, roads and green hydrogen
- Adani Ports and SEZ: port terminals and logistics across India and in other countries
- Adani Power: thermal power generation
- Adani Green Energy: solar and wind power, including a very large renewable park in Khavda, Gujarat
- Adani Energy Solutions: electricity transmission and distribution, formerly Adani Transmission
- Adani Total Gas: city gas distribution in partnership with TotalEnergies
- Ambuja Cements and ACC: cement companies bought from Holcim in 2022
- NDTV: the television news network, taken over in 2022
The airports business won bids in 2019 to run several Indian airports and acquired control of Mumbai's airport in 2021. The group also built the new Navi Mumbai airport. In January 2023 the short seller Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the group of stock manipulation and accounting problems. The group rejected the allegations, but its shares fell sharply, and Adani Enterprises withdrew a planned share sale. In November 2024 United States prosecutors charged Adani and others in connection with an alleged bribery scheme linked to solar power contracts, which the group denied.
Early life in Gujarat
Gautam Shantilal Adani was born in June 1962 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, into a Jain family. His father ran a small textile trading business. He enrolled at Gujarat University to study commerce but left before finishing his degree.
As a teenager he moved to Mumbai, where he worked in the diamond business, sorting stones and later trading on his own. In the early 1980s he returned to Ahmedabad to help manage a plastics business run by his elder brother, which imported PVC as a raw material. That experience introduced him to international trade and to the problems of moving goods through India's ports.
Adani has survived several dangerous episodes that were widely reported in India. In 1998 he was kidnapped for ransom in Ahmedabad and later released. In November 2008 he was at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai when it came under terrorist attack and he escaped unharmed after hiding in the building. He remains chairman of the Adani Group, while several family members, including his sons Karan and Jeet and his nephew Pranav, hold leading roles in group companies.
Adani Foundation and public profile
The group's main charitable arm is the Adani Foundation, founded in 1996 and chaired by Gautam Adani's wife, Priti Adani, who trained as a dentist. The foundation works in education, health, nutrition, sustainable livelihoods and community development, mostly in the areas around Adani projects. It runs schools, health facilities and training programs in states including Gujarat.
On his 60th birthday in 2022, the family pledged a large sum to be spent on charitable causes in health, education and skill development. The group has since announced plans for hospitals and educational institutions as part of that commitment.
Adani's rise has made him one of the most discussed business figures in India. Supporters credit him with building infrastructure the country needed, quickly and at scale. Critics have questioned his group's level of debt, its rapid growth through government contracts and its closeness to political leaders, accusations the group has rejected. His Australian coal mine project in Queensland, known as Carmichael, also drew protests from environmental groups for years before beginning exports.