Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani
Adani in 2012
Born
Gautam Shantilal Adani

(1962-06-24) 24 June 1962 (age 62)
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Alma materGujarat University (dropped out, 1978)[1]
OccupationBusinessman
Years active1978–present
OrganisationAdani Group
Title
Spouse
Priti Adani
​
(m. 1986)​
Children2
Parents
  • Shantilal Adani (father)
  • Shanta Adani (mother)
RelativesVinod Adani (brother)
Pranav Adani (nephew)

Gautam Shantilal Adani (born 24 June 1962) is an Indian billionaire businessman who is the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, a multinational conglomerate involved in port development and operations in India.[2][3] As of 21 November 2024, Adani is ranked second richest person in Asia and 25th in the world, with a net worth of $57.7 billion.[4] In 2022, Times Magazine included him in the 100 most influential people in the world.[5]

Adani has been described as being close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government.[3][6][7] This has led to allegations of cronyism,[8] as his firms have won many energy and infrastructure contracts in India and abroad after Modi became the Prime Minister of India.[9] In January 2023, the American short selling activist firm Hindenburg Research accused Adani of stock manipulation and fraud.[10] In January 2024, the Supreme Court resolved the Adani Group stocks dispute arising from Hindenburg Research's allegations. The Court dismissed requests for an SIT or CBI investigation.[11][12] Adani's and his family's fortune has plummeted by over 50%[13][14][15][16] to an estimated US$54.2 billion, as of October 2023, while falling to the 23rd place on the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list.[17]

On 20 November 2024, Adani was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York. The five count criminal indictment charged Adani with scheming to pay over US$250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure contracts in Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, J&K and Tamil Nadu while concealing the scheme from American investors.[18][19][20]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Prime Insights was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Gautam Adani Bloomberg Index". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Keener Spotlight was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Forbes Billionaires List". Forbes. 21 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Gautam Adani: The 100 Most Influential People of 2022". Time. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference timesofindia-10Apr14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "The humbling of Gautam Adani is a test for Indian capitalism". The Economist. 9 February 2023.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC News-02Dec22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Quartz-13Dec22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Adani Group: How The World's 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History". Hindenburg Research. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  11. ^ Mahapatra, Dhananjay (4 January 2024). "No inadequacy in Sebi probe: Supreme Court". The Times of India. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  12. ^ Rajagopal, Krishnadas (3 January 2024). "Supreme Court upholds SEBI probe, turns focus on 'conduct' of Hindenburg". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  13. ^ "How Gautam Adani Lost More Than $50 Billion In A Week—And His Ranking As Asia's Richest". Forbes. 26 January 2023.
  14. ^ "Adani's $58 Billion Wealth Wipeout in Six Days Has Few Parallels". Bloomberg.com. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  15. ^ Iordache, Ruxandra (2 February 2023). "Adani losses top $100 billion in the wake of Hindenburg Research report". CNBC. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  16. ^ Shankar, Vivek (31 January 2023). "This Mogul Lost Tens of Billions of Dollars in Days. What Happened?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  17. ^ "Profile Gautam Adani". Forbes. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  18. ^ Luc Cohen; Jonathan Stempel (21 November 2024). "Billionaire Gautam Adani of India's Adani Group charged in US with bribery, fraud". Reuters.
  19. ^ "Eastern District of New York | Billionaire Chairman of Conglomerate and Seven Other Senior Business Executives Indicted in Connection with Scheme to Pay Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Bribes and Conceal Bribery Scheme from U.S. Investors | United States Department of Justice".
  20. ^ "Adani bribe row: US indictment names Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, J&K, Tamil Nadu". India Today. 21 November 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.