How Did Gautam Adani Make His Money? If you live in North America, you probably think about Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos as the richest people in the world.
Do you ever wonder who has the second place? It isn’t Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg. It’s Gautam Adani, a powerful industrialist based in India.
His wealth has grown tremendously over the last decade, showing that he and his businesses can generate massive profits from India and beyond.
Who Is Gautam Adani?
Gautam Adani is an Indian industrialist who founded Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate with interests in diverse industries, including renewable energy, petrochemicals, aerospace, minerals, and media.
Adani enrolled in the commerce program at Gujarat University but dropped out after his second year.
His dedication to growing Adani Group has helped make him the wealthiest person in India. Adani works closely with his wife, Priti Adani, who is also recognized as an educator, dentist, and philanthropist. The couple has two children.
Gautam Adani’s life has been in serious jeopardy at least twice. In 1998, he was abducted and held hostage for a ransom. He was eventually released without paying the ransom. During the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he was the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the terrorists’ targets. The hotel experienced six explosions, but Adani escaped unharmed.
Why Is Gautam Adani Famous?
Gautam Adani is famous for being the richest person in India and the second-richest person in the world.
Only Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have higher net worths than Adani. That’s quite incredible, considering that Adani doesn’t come from nearly as much money as Musk and Bezos.
Although he learned a lot about business from his father, he built an empire outside of the family business and without much financial assistance from his parents.
What Is Gautam Adani’s Company?
Gautum Adani owns Adani Group, a conglomerate he founded in 1988 when he began trading commodities.
The small business he started has grown considerably. It got a big boost when he negotiated with the government to take over operations of the Mundra Port.
In many ways, he has profited from India’s commitment to privatizing much of its services instead of relying on government entities.
Other examples include Adani Transmission and Adani Power. These private companies serve large areas of India.
Before the government took a more liberalized approach to services, it would have relied on a public utility to fulfill these needs.
How Did Gautam Adani Make His Money?
Gautam Adani has always had the heart of an entrepreneur. He left college so he could start earning money and work toward building a successful company.
He didn’t have much interest in his father’s textile business, so he moved from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in 1978 to forge his own path forward. In Mumbai, he found early success as a diamond sorter with Mahendra Brothers. He became a millionaire within a couple of years.
Adani decided to move back to Ahmedabad in 1981 when his brother purchased a plastics business. Gautam Adani took control of operations, but he had ambitions outside of the new family business.
By 1988, Adani had enough experience importing primary polymers that he could start his own business, Adani Exports. Today, Adani Exports operates as Adani Enterprises, a holding company with more than a dozen subsidiaries.
Gautam Adani was well positioned in 1991 to take advantage of India’s evolving economic policies. As the country liberalized its regulations, Adani expanded his business into agriculture, metals, and textiles.
Once established as a notable importer and exporter, Adani stood out as the best option for managing Mundra Port. His company submitted a proposal to the Gujarat government in 1994 and won the contract. Today, Adani maintains control of India’s largest private port.
Over the last few decades, Adani has grown his conglomerate significantly by acquiring businesses and starting new groups. Some of the conglomerates largest companies include:
- Adani Enterprises, which owns companies invested in fossil fuels, green energy, infrastructure, data centers, real estate, and transportation.
- Adani Green Energy, the world’s largest solar power company.
- Adani Ports & SEZ, which operates several private ports throughout India.
- Adani Power, India’s largest private power generation company.
- Adani Transmission, the largest private power distribution network in India.
- Adani Total Gas, a natural gas that serves commercial and consumer clients.
- Adani Wilmar, a company that sells edible oils made from ingredients such as sunflowers, soybeans, and rice.
Adani’s wealth has grown tremendously over the last several years. In 2016, he was worth about $3.5 billion. By 2021, he had crossed the $50 billion mark.
Is Gautam Adani a Self-Made Billionaire?
Gautam Adani grew up in a well-to-do family, but they were not wealthy. His father owned a small textile business that offered the family a comfortable life. More importantly, Adani probably learned the fundamentals of business from his father.
Since Adani doesn’t come from an extremely wealthy family, it’s fair to call him a “self-made billionaire.” After all, he started small, worked hard to grow his businesses, developed smart strategies, and became the richest person in Indiana (and the second-richest person in the world).
Coming from a well-off family certainly helped Adani, but he built his massive fortune independently. He certainly inherited his business acumen from his father, but he used those skills to make his own money.
Gautam Adani vs Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani is currently the second-richest person in India and the 11th-richest person in the world.
He’s the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate started by his father, Dhirubhai Ambani.
Mukesh joined the company in 1980, when it was small but growing quickly. Ambani’s net worth is about $90 billion.
Many expect the empires run by Adani and Ambani to clash at some point. So far, that hasn’t happened. The two industrialists have managed to build extravagant wealth while respecting each other’s ambitions and business deals.
Gautam Adani Net Worth
Gautam Adani has a net worth of about $148.8 billion. That makes him the richest person in India and all of Asia. It also makes him the second-richest person in the world.
Like many extremely wealthy people, Gautam Adani owns a philanthropic foundation. Adani Foundation receives funding from Adani Group.
Recently, Adani has used his foundation to support communities and healthcare workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the pandemic’s beginning (March 2020), his foundation donated about $13 million to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, popularly known as the PM CARES Fund.
Other initiatives supported by the Adani Foundation include:
- Making education more affordable and accessible, especially in rural parts of India.
- Community infrastructure that provides clean water, roads, and solar power to remote villages.
- Nutrition assistance for girls and women, largely as part of a larger effort for decreased India’s infant mortality rate.
Gautam Adani House, Wife, Daughter, Age
Many people mistakenly assume that Adani and his wife, Priti, have a daughter named “Karan.” In fact, the couple has a son named “Karan.” They also have a son named “Jeet.” “Karan” sounds similar to “Karen,” which is typically a feminine name among people who speak English.
Karan Adani is the CEO of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the largest private multi-port operator in India and part of the Adani Group.
Gautam Adani was born on June 24, 1962, which makes him 60 years old in September of 2022.
Adani owns an incredibly luxurious home that sits on about 3.4 acres of land near Gujarat, India. The house reportedly has about 25,000 square feet of space. There’s also a 7,000-square-foot building for staff members.
Adani managed to purchase the location at an incredibly low price because the former owner, Aditya Estates, filed for bankruptcy. He lives in the home with his wife, two sons, and one daughter-in-law.
#1 Stock For The Next 7 Days
When Financhill publishes its #1 stock, listen up. After all, the #1 stock is the cream of the crop, even when markets crash.
Financhill just revealed its top stock for investors right now... so there's no better time to claim your slice of the pie.
See The #1 Stock Now >>The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.