New Delhi: Richest Indian Gautam Adani on Tuesday said his port-to-energy group has never slowed or stopped investments in the country as the group’s success is based on its alignment with India’s growth story.
Speaking at the annual shareholder meeting of the group companies, he said the earlier announced investment of USD 70 billion in new energy business will help India become a net importer of oil and gas as an exporter of clean energy.
“We have never shied away from investing in India, we have never slowed down our investments,” he said. “We believe that 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 said that the success of Adani Group is based on its alignment with India’s growth story.
Beginning as a commodity trader in 1988, the Adani Group has over the years diversified into production of sea ports, coal, energy distribution, airports, data centers and more recently, cement and copper. It is now bidding to acquire 5G telecom spectrum for setting up private networks.
“The best evidence to demonstrate our faith and belief in the future – is our investment of USD 70 billion to facilitate India’s green transition,” said Adani, Group Chairman.
Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), one of the world’s largest solar power developers, is targeting 45 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030 and USD 20 billion to develop 2 GW per year solar manufacturing capacity by 2022-23. dollars will be invested.
The group will invest the rest of the money in building manufacturing facilities to produce green hydrogen.
“Our strengths in renewable energy will greatly empower us in our effort to make green hydrogen the fuel of the future,” he said. “We are at the forefront of transforming India from a country highly dependent on oil and gas imports to a country that may one day become a net exporter of clean energy. A transformation that will help reshape India’s energy footprint in an extraordinary way.” Adani said the group is growing as “India’s infrastructure builder”, winning large road contracts and expanding businesses from ports and logistics to power transmission and distribution and city gas utilities.
It has now become the country’s largest airport operator as well as the second largest cement producer in India with the acquisition of Holcim’s assets (ACC and Ambuja Cement).
The group now has a leading global renewable energy portfolio.
“This is a classic example of our sedentary-based business model at work,” he said. “In addition, we have also made entries in areas ranging from data centers, digital super apps and industrial clouds to defense and aerospace, metals and materials.” Among the six listed entities, the group’s market capitalization exceeded USD 200 billion this year.
“We were able to raise billions of dollars from international markets – a direct validation of the belief in India and the Adani growth story,” he said. “Our growth and success has been recognized around the world. Many foreign governments are now approaching us to help them operate in their geographies and build their infrastructure.” This, he said, laid the foundation for vast expansion beyond the borders of India.
However, he did not elaborate.
“Our growing market capitalization is supported by strong and sustained growth in our cash flows. Our focus on operational excellence and efficiencies across our portfolio delivered 26 per cent EBITDA growth. Portfolio EBITDA stood at Rs 42,623 crore,” he said .
This diversified growth in FY22 was reflected in its range of businesses – Utility portfolio grew 26 per cent, Transport & Logistics portfolio grew 19 per cent, FMCG portfolio grew 34 per cent, and Adani Enterprises Ltd – its incubator business – by 45 percent.
“AEL’s unique business model has no parallel and we intend to leverage this further. AEL’s high growth provides the group with a credible foundation for the continued growth of new businesses for another big decade,” he said.
Adani said his conglomerate has become India’s largest integrated infrastructure business in two decades.
“This has transformed us into a unified ‘Platform of Platform’ that combines an energy platform with a logistics platform – both of which help us reach unprecedented access to the Indian consumer.
“Today, I don’t know of any company that has such a unique business model with the potential to reach unlimited B2B and B2C markets for the next several decades,” he said.
This report is automatically generated from PTI news service. ThePrint assumes no responsibility for its contents.
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