Thread by @_BizBites

This isn’t just your ordinary 'rags to riches' story.

This is the tale of a man who refused to cower down to fate & chose to make a solid mark in the business world.

Born on 24 June, 1962, in Ahmedabad, this is one of India’s foremost business tycoons.

A thread 🧵👇

#fintwit

Gautam Adani, Founder, & Chairman of the Adani Group, didn’t inherit his power & position.

His parents, Shantaben and Shantilal Adani, had migrated to the city of Ahmedabad from a small town called Tharad in Norther Gujarat in hopes of better opportunities for their 8 children.

@gautam_adani completed his schooling from Seth CN Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad and then enrolled himself for a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce at Gujarat University.

It was when he was pondering over accounts and statistics, he realized academics was not for him.

Instead, @gautam_adani felt that he could be using his time to do bigger and better things.

While still in his second year, Adani shocked many by dropping out of college.

With only a hundred rupees in his pocket, he took off to the City of Dreams – Mumbai.

He procured a job as a diamond sorter at the Mumbai branch of the Mahindra Brothers.

Soaking in the A to Z of the trade, while also simultaneously making mental notes on the changing markets, he set up his own diamond brokerage at Zaveri Bazaar-the unrivaled jewellery market.

This was his first big break.

A year later, his older brother, Mahasukh Adani, bought a plastic unit in Ahmedabad and requested him to return home and run the franchise.

This turned out to be a turning point in @gautam_adani's life.

His decision to import polyvinyl chloride, a key industrial raw material, marked his advent into the global trading market.

Economic liberalization was a blessing for him.

Using the situation created in the markets to his advantage, he established the @AdaniOnline in 1988.

During its initial years, the soon-to-be multinational conglomerate focused on agricultural commodities and power.

By 1991, the company had grown in both resources and power.

Adani believed that the time was right for the company to diversify its commodities and interests.

A decade later, he started to operate the port of Mundra, located on the coast of the Arabian Sea, eventually building India’s largest private-sector port operator.

Today the @AdaniOnline has emerged as a diversified Energy and Logistics conglomerate.

Key interests of @AdaniOnline include Power Generation & Transmission, Coal industry, Gas Distribution, as well as Ports & Special Economic Zones.

Despite owning this business giant with a flagship of over several billion dollars, Adani never forgets his humble beginnings.

Thus, he makes it a point to give back to society.

With the support of his wife, @AdaniPriti, a dentist and Managing Trustee of @AdaniFoundation, the @AdaniOnline is tied to a number of organizations associated with Education, Community Health, & Rural Infra Development.

@gautam_adan has had his fair share of rifts with the government as well.

He has faced controversy over some of his land dealings in business not being sanctioned properly.

Along with this, many of his business’ industrial units don’t have clearance from the environmental authorities of the state, leading to further ruffles with the High Court.

@gautam_adani faced his issues with his head held high.

Despite these issues, @gautam_adani even managed to tackle and take down Sajjan Jindal, the Chairman and Managing Director of JW Steel, acquiring the much sought-after Udupi Thermal Power Plant at Rs 6,000 crore.

Rumour has it that Gautam sealed the deal in less than two days!

@gautam_adani has a knack for surviving crisis.

He was held for ransom more than two decades ago and in 2008 was among the hostages of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel during the terror attacks that killed more than 160 people.

Since then, his business acumen and ability to overcome obstacles have propelled him to the ranks of India’s richest.

While the coronavirus outbreak sank the nation into an unprecedented recession this year, @AdaniOnline has kept growing.

@gautam_adani rose through the ranks just as Modi, gained power.

The businessman began commercial operations of the Mundra port and built its industrial zone when Modi was the state’s executive head and has been one of the politician’s key supporters for almost two decades.

The billionaire’s rapid diversification started around 2015.

When Modi pledged to develop the local manufacturing of defense equipment, he quickly built the capacity to supply the military by partnering with defense contractors.

Three years later, a push into gas eventually turned his empire into India’s largest retailer of fuel in the private sector.

In 2019, he started focusing on airports, and now he’s trying to enter sectors including data storage and financial services.

While @gautam_adani is doing well in his home country, he’s faced opposition and criticism in Australia.

The @stopadani movement gained traction as lenders turned away from the controversial Carmichael coal project.

It even became an election issue in the 2019 parliamentary vote, and eventually, Adani Enterprises renamed its mining arm in the country in a move that some saw as a way to distance the conglomerate from the development.

That hasn’t stopped the conglomerate from growing.

The fast expansion has, however, led to more than $17 billion in debt, according to a local report in May citing its group chief financial officer.

It has been able to keep raising funds, in part by pivoting to green energy and increasingly borrowing from overseas banks.

With @gautam_adani at the helm, the @AdaniOnline continues to grow and thrive despite all the obstacles coming its way.

For more info head over to:

🔗yourstory.com/2016/06/gautam…

🔗theprint.in/india/the-stor…