Gautam Adani
Living legend or scam seems settled
But WHO is the man behind Adani.
Adani, Ambani and several other recent success stories are looked upon with suspicion. The general view has been that “behind every major fortune there is at least one major unpunished crime.” When I started working in the mid eighties, I realised this was probably true.
And then came the first phase of liberalisation around 1992, which I was an active part of. From the Disinvestment Commission to setting up of TRAI, from disbanding of the state financial corporations to the creation of SIDBI and new age banks like HDFC, from the privatisation of insurance and telecom to the corporatisation of BSNL and the divestment of VSNL – I got to see them, not as a spectator, but as an executor.
Buy it is the post-liberalisation rockets – from Ambani to Adani – which continue to amaze me to this day. First, let me disclose that I do not have nor have I ever had any fiduciary relationship with either.
Let’s start with my fellow chemical engineer Mukesh Ambani. UDCT and Stanford alumnus. You have to give it to the man that he and his entire team – be it Manoj Modi or PMS Prasad or RA Mashelkar – are really good chemical engineers. They make it all look so easy. Whether it is building the worlds largest grassroot refinery or consolidating the entire petrochemical industry.
But then, history tells us that family businesses don’t really last much longer than three generations. So by law of averages, their half life should be equal to the balance life of Mukeshbhai.
But where did Gautam Adani come from. He is niether a premium graduate nor an inheritor. He is the creation of the dispute between Mukesh and his brother. In a way you can say Mukesh’s attempts to damage Anil’s power business or infrastructure business is what created Adani. Iron is hit the most by the rust within.
Mukesh’s greatest contribution to India may be the creation of Adani.
Over the past few years, I see that Adani has galloped way ahead of even Jio. The branding is unified, the execution companies are independent and truly autonomous. The family is there but the executives have way more authority. This is not hearsay but based on my direct interactions with Adanis seniormost employees.
When a chief guest was being sought for the platinum jubilee celebrations of the IIT ecosystem, the choice finally fell on Gautam Adani. Here is his speech:
I was one of the speakers at the Platinum jubilee and got to interact with a wide cross section of people including our dynamic director of IIT Kharagpur – who himself spoke really well. I think he settled the debate – scam or genius – with his remark, “He is a living legend”. And I think that concludes the debate.
Adani is today a better group than Tata. You don’t have to be a premium grad to make a better capitalist. You just need to learn faster than the rest.
Even the Adani Trusts seem to work better than those of the Tatas.