Adani group to invest $70 bn in India’s green transition

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, during Adani Enterprises' annual shareholders' meeting, said the group is investing around $70 billion in facilitating India’s green transition.

The business magnate says the year 2021-22 was another breakout year for the group, which is one of the largest conglomerates in India. He says the group never walked away from investing in India, and never slowed its investments. "We believe our scale, our diversified business, and our track record of performance position us very strongly to continue to perform well in a variety of market conditions," he adds.

Notably, the Adani group is one of the world's largest developers of solar power. Adani says the company's strength in renewables will empower it enormously to make "green hydrogen" the fuel of the future.

The tycoon had recently overtaken Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the fourth-richest person on the planet. The Gujarat-based billionaire's net worth jumped $36 billion this year, making him the biggest gainer year-to-date, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Adani’s fortunes stood at $113 billion as of July 22, 2022 – $1 billion more than the net worth of Gates.

"We are leading the race to turn India from a country over-reliant on import of oil and gas, to a country that might one day become a net exporter of clean energy," says Adani.

Apart from the global renewable energies portfolio, the group has also become the largest airport operator in India, adding it's also developing aero-tro-polises around them.

On the recently-concluded Holcim deal, Adani says this is a classic example of the group's adjacency-based business model at work. In May, the Adani group had entered into definitive agreements for the acquisition of Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd’s entire stake in two cement companies – Ambuja Cements Ltd and ACC Ltd. The value for the Holcim stake and open offer consideration for Ambuja Cements and ACC is around $10.5 billion. The company is now the second largest cement manufacturer in India.

The combined market capitalisation of the group this year has exceeded $200 billion, says Adani. "Our rising market capitalisation has been supported by a robust and sustained growth in our cash flows," he adds.

On the group companies' growth, Adani says its utility portfolio grew by 26% in FY22; transport and logistics by 19%; FMCG 34%; and Adani Enterprises Limited, its incubator business, by 45%.

Adani says he believes India is one the greatest countries for an entrepreneur to learn, develop and flourish. "Like I have said in the past - the largest middle class that will ever exist will be Indian,” adds the tycoon. But he adds that a crucial piece of this jigsaw will be a better-trained, better-educated, healthier, and technologically nimble workforce.

Adani also talks about the charitable works done by the Adani Foundation. The group in June decided to contribute ₹60,000 crore towards charitable activities related to healthcare, education, and skill development, focussing especially on rural India. This is touted to be one of the biggest donations by a business family in India.