Billionaire industralist Gautam Adani claims to be connected to the common person with whom he shares his rural roots. His wife Priti and family decided to donate Rs 60,000 crore on his sixtieth birthday in 2022 to the Adani Foundation to boost health, education and skill development. Experts are being consulted to develop schemes to benefit the people at the lowest strata of society.

In his first-ever interview with the media, Asia’s richest and the world’s third-richest business tycoon in the world, Gautam Adani, admitted to being a very shy person, yet shared his formula for success as being good intentions and hard work. He told India TV that he does not believe in the “Maya Jaal” of monetary growth, his focus is the nation's development, and he is confident that India is on the path of rapid growth.

Acknowledging the role of various people in his success, Gautam says whatever he has achieved today is due to the tremendous support he received from his acquaintances, friends and well-wishers. But acknowledges Dhirubhai Ambani as his role model due to his vision and struggle to establish the Reliance empire. Gautam Adani's wealth increases by Rs 1600 crores daily and Rs 66 crore every hour. Despite this, he says no business is free of risks, but the risk-taking capacity impacts the growth of a business. But when you take a risk, you should be aware of its consequences. However, perseverance remains the key.

Having seen death closely twice in his life, first when he was kidnapped and again when he found himself stuck in Taj Mumbai during the 26/11 terrorist attack. He says he saw death closely and recounts the first bullet being fired in front of his eyes at 10, shortly after he finished dinner with a friend from Dubai. But these incidents don’t bother him as he is adaptable and quickly moves on.

Adani Group's philosophy is to go through competitive bidding before getting into any business. “We will not touch anything without bidding and winning the contract”, he says - no business, whether ports, airports, powerhouses, etc., has been secured without competing. When someone comes first in an exam, you cannot ask the person how they topped. No one has alleged any favouritism the government shows towards the Adani group. Political statements against the Adani Group are merely political jargon.

He says it is wrong to say that the loans secured by the Adani Group are with the help of political clout. In 2013 the Adani Group secured 80 per cent of loans from Indian Banks; today, that has come down to 35 per cent. The remaining borrowing is from international financial institutions where the Indian politicians do not have much say. The foreign banks want to lend loans to the Adani Group because the rating of the Group is at par with India’s financial rating.

Reacting to his sharp criticism by Congress Party and its leader Rahul Gandhi, Gautam Adani said it was due to the continuous political attack naming him as a beneficiary of the Modu Government after 2014 that the people of India have come to know his identity and who he was. But at the same time rubbished all allegations saying there was no truth in any allegation, and he did not read anything more in Rahul Gandhi’s statement than political compulsion. People understand that there is a difference between a political statement and a genuine allegation.

Adani Group, he said, was committed to developing the potential not only in Rajasthan but also to developing the potential in every state of the country. Irrespective of any political narrative, Rahul Gandhi or his party is not anti-development. The Adani Group is working with state governments across India, ranging from Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan to the left government in Kerala, Mamta Banerjee in West Bengal and Navin Patnaik in Odisha and KCR in Telangana. The Adani Group has businesses in 22 states across India. People try to use Adani to attack Prime Minister Modi for political reasons, but no one finds any problem with the Adani business model.

Reacting to allegations of receiving land at Rs 1 per acre for the Mundra port, Gautam Adani said that there was no land; the Adani Group reclaimed land underwater and used its resources to develop the port by setting up railways lines and roads at its own cost. The government spent only a few paise on the Mundra port, which has become the largest private port in India in the last ten years. The entire development in Mundra has been based on collaboration with the local farmers and the community.

Rubbishing the charges that farm laws were introduced to help the Adani Group, Gautam Adani said his Group has minimal exposure to agriculture-related business. His company made some warehouses for the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI), and all the wheat stored in them belonged to the FCI and not to the Adani Group. FCI procures wheat at MSP and supplies it to people below the poverty line. The Adani Group has nothing to do with what is stored inside these warehouses. Linking us with this is baseless. The farm laws were good and impacted 40 to 50 per cent of people connected with agriculture in some way or another. If the laws had been implemented, Adani could have helped develop agricultural infrastructure.

  As told to IndiaTV