Gautam Shantilal Adani, despite global headwinds and geopolitical crises, has had a spectacular 2022. He was named the richest Asian this year, and also made a remarkable entry to Bloomberg’s global ranking of billionaires, thereby replacing Google’s co-founder Larry Page. While most billionaires this year lost millions in the highly volatile stock markets, Adani reportedly added $40 billion to his net worth in 2022.
Gautam Adani, the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, was named as the Newsmaker of the Year 2022 by India Today magazine. In an exclusive interview with Raj Chengappa, Editorial Director (Publishing), India Today Group, Adani pointed out that as a first-generation entrepreneur, he views Reliance Industries' (RIL) patriarch, the late Dhirubhai Ambani, as his primary inspiration.
During the course of the interview, Adani pointed out that one of the main reasons he views Dhirubhai Ambani as his main inspiration is because it was he who first showed that a man with humble beginnings can become a world-class industrialist.
“Dhirubhai Ambani is a source of inspiration for millions of entrepreneurs in India. He has shown how a humble man without any backing or resources and against all odds can not only set up a world-class business group but also leave a legacy. Being a first-generation entrepreneur and having a humble beginning, I am deeply inspired by him,” Adani noted.
In many ways, one can say that there are broad similarities between the journeys of Adani and Dhirubhai Ambani. In the 1980s, when Adani landed in Mumbai (then known as Bombay) to try his hand in diamond trading, Dhirubhai Ambani was already a household name, had founded Reliance, and was rapidly displacing established business families of that time from their perch. Almost 30 years later, Adani, with the rapid pace of his rise, is doing the same today.
Watch: Gautam Adani’s Role Models
After landing in Mumbai, Adani soon founded his first commodity trading firm, Adani Exports. In 2002, when Mukesh Ambani was elevated as Reliance's Chairman, following Dhirubhai's death, Adani Exports was still a very small player in the rapidly changing landscape of India Inc. Today, the comparisons 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.
As Business Today's flagship study, the BT500 found out recently, in terms of the average annual market cap between October 2021 and September 2022 (the BT500 study period), RIL maintains the top position: RIL’s market cap is Rs 17 lakh crore, while the Adani Group’s is Rs 13.72 lakh crore. This competition between the two companies is only set to grow fiercer, particularly in the energy sector. Both RIL and the Adani Group have very strong positions in the energy segment, and both companies are keenly eyeing the fresh field of green hydrogen as the next big thing, especially as India pivots slowly to a more carbon-zero model.
Also read: 'Very healthy': Gautam Adani says debt-to-EBITDA ratio has come down from 7.6 to 3.2
Watch: Gautam Adani Pays Tribute To The Late Dhirubhai Ambani