Yahoo Finance From few hundreds to billionaire: India's energy conglomerate, Gautam Adani
This is not just another tale of a college dropout determined to pursue his passion. With only hundred rupees in his pocket, Gautam Adani came to the city of dreams, Mumbai, and today his personal wealth is estimated to be $6.3 billion (as per a Forbes 2016 report). Ports tycoon Gautam Adani is in businesses spanning coal trading, coal mining, oil & gas exploration, ports, multi-modal logistics, power generation, agri-Infrastructure, edible oil & transmission and gas distribution.
Adani’s massive 648 megawatt solar plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, built in less than 8 months, has brought him to the limelight once again. Here are some lesser known facts of his inspiring journey so far:
Adani is from a Gujarati Bania family in Ratanpole, Ahmedabad. He has seven siblings. Instead of joining his father’s business, he moved to Mumbai at the age of 18.
He completed his primary studies from Seth CN Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad and then enrolled himself for a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce in Gujarat University.
His first break was a job as a diamond sorter at Mahindra Brothers in Mumbai.
Then he set up his own diamond brokerage at Zaveri Bazaar, his first venture. Here he made his first million within a year at the age of 20.
Later he joined his brother Mahasukh Adani’s newly purchased plastic factory, where his decision to import polyvinyl chloride marked his entry into the global trading market.
The year 1991 was another turning point in Gautam’s life when he decided his company, Adani Exports Limited, will diversify to a variety of power and agricultural commodities.
In 2015, Adani Group acquired the much sought-after Lanco Infratech’s 1200 MW Udupi power plant for Rs 6,300 crore.
Today, the Adani Group has emerged as a diversified Energy and logistics company with power generation, coal trading and mining, oil and gas exploration.
He also founded a school named Adani Vidya Mandir in Ahmedabad run by his wife Priti Adani who is a dentist. The school takes care of children whose parents have an annual income less than Rs. 1 lakh.
He has two sons – Karan and Jeet. Karan Adani is currently the CEO of Adani Ports.
He is currently the owner of world’s largest 648 megawatts solar power plant in Tamil Nadu entailing an investment of Rs 4,550 crore.
(Image credit – Getty; Inputs from Wiki and Forbes)
For more stories, please visit – in.finance.yahoo.com
