Adani stated in an exclusive interview with Raj Chengappa, Editorial Director (Publishing), India Today Group, that as a first-generation entrepreneur, he looks up to Reliance Industries (RIL) grandfather, the late Dhirubhai Ambani.
Despite global headwinds and geopolitical upheavals, Gautam Shantilal Adani had a phenomenal 2022. This year, he was declared the richest Asian, and he also made a spectacular entry into Bloomberg’s worldwide list of billionaires, replacing Google co-founder Larry Page. While other billionaires have lost millions in this year’s tumultuous financial markets, Adani is said to have added $40 billion to his net wealth by 2022.
Gautam Adani, the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, has been selected India Today magazine’s Newsmaker of the Year 2022. Adani stated in an exclusive interview with Raj Chengappa, Editorial Director (Publishing), India Today Group, that as a first-generation entrepreneur, he looks up to Reliance Industries (RIL) grandfather, the late Dhirubhai Ambani.
During the interview, Adani stated that one of the key reasons he considers Dhirubhai Ambani to be his main inspiration is because he was the first to demonstrate that a man from modest circumstances can become a world-class industrialist.
“Dhirubhai Ambani is an inspiration to millions of Indian businesses. He has demonstrated how a humble individual with little support or resources can not only establish a world-class company organization but also leave a legacy. “I am deeply inspired by him as a first-generation entrepreneur with a humble beginning,” Adani said.
In many respects, the trajectories of Adani and Dhirubhai Ambani are strikingly similar. When Adani arrived in Mumbai (then known as Bombay) in the 1980s to try his hand at diamond dealing, Dhirubhai Ambani was already a household figure, had started Reliance, and was swiftly dethroning renowned business families of the time. With his quick ascension, Adani is doing the same thing almost 30 years later.
Adani established his first commodities trading enterprise, Adani Exports, immediately after arriving in Mumbai. Following Dhirubhai’s death in 2002, Mukesh Ambani was appointed as Reliance’s Chairman, and Adani Exports was still a minor participant in India Inc’s fast-changing environment. Nowadays, analogies between the two behemoths is stark. The Adani Group companies have a cumulative valuation of Rs 19.31 lakh crore, as of November 18, thereby surpassing RIL’s valuation by a whopping Rs 1.84 lakh crore. However, there is a caveat here as well.
According to Business Today’s flagship research, the BT500, RIL holds the top position in terms of average yearly market valuation between October 2021 and September 2022 (the BT500 study period): RIL’s market worth is Rs 17 lakh crore, while the Adani Group’s is Rs 13.72 lakh crore. This rivalry between the two firms is certainly going to intensify, notably in the energy industry. Both RIL and the Adani Group have extremely strong holdings in the energy sector, and both firms are looking at green hydrogen as the next big thing, especially as India steadily transitions to a more carbon-zero model.
