Gautam Adani Biography

Adani Group, in the latest, announced on August 23, 2022, that its media unit will buy a majority stake in New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), one of the nation's most popular, in the most high-profile bet by billionaire Gautam Adani in the vibrant media sector. The news of Adani's latest acquisition has led the media industry by storm. 

Gautam Adani's unit will indirectly buy a 29.18 percent stake in NDTV and will launch an open offer for another 26 percent stake. The open offer will be worth Rs. 493 crores, as per the official statement. NDTV is a leading media house and operates three national news channels, NDTV India, NDTV 24x7 and NDTV Profit. 

Gautam Adani is the chairman and founder of the Indian multinational conglomerate, Adani Group, which is headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. His wife Priti Adani leads the Adani foundation. He is a first-generation entrepreneur and is driven by the core philosophy of infusing "Growth with Goodness" via his vision of nation-building. On 17 June 2021, he lost the title of Asia's second-richest man due to a sudden drop in shares at the Adani Group.

Adani Group constituted 6 publicly listed entities. Let us take a look at Gautam Adani's family, early life, education, career, philanthropy, etc.

Gautam Adani Biography

Full Name

Gautam Shantilal Adani

Birth 24 June 1962

Place of Birth Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Age (as of 2023) 60

Known for Founder and chairman, Adani Group

President, Adani Foundation

School Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Vidyalaya School, Ahmedabad, India

College/University Gujarat University, India

Educational Qualification Started Bachelors in Commerce (Dropped out in IInd year)

Father's Name Shantilal Adani

Mother's Name Shanti Adani

Marital Status Married

Spouse(s) Priti Adani 

Children Karan Adani and Jeet Adani.

Net Worth $90.1B (as of 1/14/22) Forbes

Source of Wealth Infrastructure, Commodities, Self Made

Gautam Adani Biography: Early Life, Family, and Education

He was born on 24 June 1962 to a middle-class Jain family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. His father was Shantilal and his mother was Shanti Adani. He has seven siblings and the eldest is Mansukhbhai Adani. The family migrated from the town of Tharad in northern Gujarat in search of a livelihood. His father was a small textile merchant.

He did his schooling at Sheth C.N. Vidyalaya School in Ahmedabad. At Gujarat University, he took admission for a bachelor's degree in commerce, but he dropped out after the second year.

He married Priti Adani, who is a dentist and leads Adani Foundation. They have two sons namely Karan Adani and Jeet Adani.

Gautam Adani Biography: Abduction and Mumbai Attacks

Gautam Adani was abducted in 1998 and held hostage in return for ransom. Later, he was released when money was paid to the hostages. During the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he was at the Taj Hotel. Later, he was rescued safely.

Gautam Adani Biography: Career

Gautam Adani was always attracted to business and wanted to do his own business but he did not take over his father's textile business. Scroll down to know about his career.

Gautam Adani moved to Mumbai in his teenage years in 1978 and worked as a diamond sorter for Mahendra Brothers. He worked there for around two to three years before establishing his own diamond brokerage firm at Zaveri Bazaar, Mumbai.

In Ahmedabad, Gautam's elder brother Mansukhbhai Adani brought a plastics unit in 1981 and invited him to manage operations. This venture turned out to be Adani's gateway to global trading via Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) imports.

He then started importing primary polymers for small-scale industries in 1985. Adani established Adani Exports in 1988 and is now known as Adani Enterprises. The company deals in agriculture and power commodities.

In the 90s business expanded. For the Adani group, economic liberalisation policies turned out to be favourable in 1991 and he started expanding it into the trading of metals, textiles, and agro products.

Adani got the Mundra Port contract in 1995. He set up the first Jetty in 1995. It was originally operated by Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone. Later, the operations were transferred to Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ). Nowadays, is the largest private multi-port operator.

Adani Power was founded by Adani which is the power business arm of the Adani Group in 1996. It holds thermal power plants of around 4620 capacity and is the largest thermal power producer in the country.

He also entered the power generation business in 2006. He also acquired Abbot Point Port in Australia and Carmichael coal mine in Queensland from 2009 to 2012.

Adani won the world's largest solar bid by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) worth $6 billion in May 2020. Adani Green in the future will also take the project of an 8000 MW photovoltaic power plant. Adani Solar will establish 2000 MW of additional solar cell and module manufacturing capacity.

Gautam Adani Biography: Philanthropy

Gautam Adani is the president of the Adani Foundation. The foundation not only operates in Gujarat but also operates in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.

As per some reports, he contributed around Rs 100 crore to the PM Cares Fund in March 2020 through his group's philanthropy arm to fight against COVID-19. Also, around Rs 5 crore was contributed to the Gujarat CM Relief Fund and Rs 1 Crore to the Maharashtra CM Relief Fund.