Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Tuesday expressed his pleasure at the immense growth of the Adani Group, which has now become one of India's biggest conglomerates. In his speech during the Adani Enterprises AGM, Adani addressed the Hindenburg report, stating that it was a premeditated and malicious effort to tarnish the Adani Group's reputation and manipulate the company's stocks for short-term financial gain
Gautam Adani said at the AGM, "While we promptly issued a comprehensive rebuttal, various vested interests tried to exploit the claims made by the short seller. These entities encouraged and promoted a false narrative across various news and social media platform. Subsequently, the SC constituted a committee to look into the matter...The report was made public in May 2023, & the expert committee did not find any regulator failure."
At the Adani Enterprises AGM, Gautam Adani reassured the shareholders that the Adani Group remains resilient, focused on its long-term goals, and committed to maintaining its strong position in the market. "We remain confident of our governance and disclosure standards," he said. He also stated that while economic cycles are getting increasingly hard to forecast, there is little doubt that, India will become the world’s third largest economy well before 2030 and, thereafter, the world’s second largest economy by 2050
Sharing the conglomerate business plans at the AEL AGM, Gautam Adani said, of the several projects underway, two of the key ones include the Navi Mumbai Airport and the Copper Smelter. "Both are on schedule. The Navi Mumbai Airport is preparing for Operational Readiness and Airport Transition by Dec 2024," he said
Gautam Adani said that NDTV is expanding its international programming. Meanwhile, the Group's data centre JV AdaniConneX is on course to set up 350 MW capacity in the short term – and 1 GW capacity in the medium term. "This is by far the largest order book in India. In combination with our strength in Green Power, this venture will be a game changer as computation becomes the most precious resource in the world," the billionaire said
Adani Group is set to play a critical role in India’s net zero journey, said Gautam Adani, adding that Adani Green Energy has commissioned the world’s largest hybrid solar-wind project of 2.14 GW in Rajasthan. "Our focus remains on producing the lowest cost green electron at scale – and I would like to reaffirm our target of 45 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030," he said
Gautam Adani also mentioned that Adani Green Energy is now building the largest hybrid renewables park in the world, right in the middle of the desert, in Khavda. "It will be the most complex and ambitious project that we have ever executed. Spread over 72,000 acres, this project will be capable of generating 20 GW of green energy. And we intend to build it faster than any project in our execution history," he added
Sharing the plans for Adani Ports, Gautam Adani said that by 2030, they intend the company to be not only the most profitable port company in the world but also India’s largest transport utility capable of handling a billion tonnes of cargo annually. "By then, APSEZ will be carbon neutral and will also have tripled its EBIDTA. In the next 12-24 months, APSEZ will commission India’s largest transshipment hub in Vizhinjam, and also a port in a Colombo," he added
Talking directly to the shareholders, Gautam Adani said, "Our country is now the most exciting land of opportunities... Our customers speak for us, our investors speak for us, our shareholders speak for us, and our results speak for us."
It is worth noting that this is Adani Group's first annual general meeting (AGM) after the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, pointing to manipulation of Adani Group companies' share prices through irregularities. The damning report led to a steep fall in the price of the Adani companies’ shares. Since then, the shares have recovered significantly
Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Ports, Adani Wilmar, Adani Transmission, Adani Wilmar, NDTV, Ambuja Cement stocks were trading higher on Tuesday, while Adani Total Gas and ACC stocks were in the red.