Who is Gautam Adani, the Indian billionaire, founder and chairman of the Adani Group ? His career path, from his beginnings in trading to an empire worth several hundred billion dollars, is impressive. Until his recent reversal of fortune, just as spectacular…
Everyone knows the myth of Icarus, the young man who died for flying too close to the sun with wings of wax and feathers. This is indeed the tragedy of Gautam Adani, the Indian billionaire, founder and chairman of the Adani Group. In September 2022, the businessman had become the second richest person in the world with a capital of 148 billion US dollars, a value calculated on the basis of the market capitalization of his conglomerate. Questioned in January 2023 by the Hindenberg fund, the value of the Adani group loses nearly 100 billion dollars, never seen before. The story of a fall.
A meteoric rise
In 1985, Gautam was 23 years old and tried to start a business with his brother in Mumbai. Ten years later, he landed a contract to manage the port of Mundra and saw a clear path into the port business. Gautam Adani is a smart man who positions himself among the country’s influential figures. As a friend of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (who became Prime Minister in 2014), he obtained the rights to operate the infrastructure on the north shore of the Gulf of Kutch for 30 years in 2001. In 2003, Modi granted him the authorization to create a special economic zone, exempted from the common rules of taxation, which allowed him to increase his fortune considerably.
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