Page 72 - EducationWorld March 2023

Books

Devalued GAUTAM ADANI: REIMAGINING boom.
Gautam Adani’s crit-
national hero BUSINESS IN INDIA & THE ics — business-illiterate
WORLD
R.N. Bhaskar lefties who one suspects
are driven more by envy
HIS IS A TIMELY, PENGUIN than the public interest —
well-researched and Rs.699 Pages 311 contend that his swift rise
Tengagingly written in the industrial firma-
biography on this epony- ment has been propelled
mous business tycoon who by the grace and favour
since January 24, has ex- consequence of a report One hopes that of politicians and prime
perienced a steep decline published by Hindenburg this biography will minister Narendra Modi,
of fortune, hitherto one of Research, a tiny (five em- persuade the citizenry in particular.
the largest of the contem- ployees) US-based finance into believing that Modi was chief minister
porary world. company. The report 21st century India (2001-14) of Gujarat state
In the past three weeks which has gone viral on needs 1,000x2 As when the Ahmedabad-
— until mid-February social and print media (Ambani & Adani) to based Adani transformed
when this review was be- alleges that Adani com- fulfill its full potential into a force to reckon with
ing written — Ahmedabad- panies are ‘over-valued’ in India Inc.
based super-charged by mysterious offshore Yet as he clarified in
entrepreneur Gautam companies. According to three decades is extraordi- several media interviews,
Adani’s net worth plunged Hinderburg, artificially nary. It is in the tradition he got his first break into
from $19 billion (Rs.1.55 boosted prices have been of G.D. Birla, Walchand big business due to a
lakh crore) to $10 billion. used to raise a mountain Hirachand, Lala Shri Ram, liberalised foreign trade
From being the world’s of debt by Adani, espe- J.N. Tata and a host of policy promulgated by
third wealthiest individ- cially abroad. other enterprising busi- Congress prime minister
ual in the global rich list This biography under nessmen who in the years Rajiv Gandhi in 1985.
published periodically by review penned by R.N. between the two World According to Bhaskar,
Forbes, a US-based busi- Bhaskar — an experienced Wars, established large when Adani hit upon
ness fortnightly, Adani’s journalist (Business India, business conglomerates in the idea of establishing
rank in the league table Free Press Journal) — was the teeth of opposition by the super-modern
has plunged to #17. published in late 2022, minions of the British Raj. Mundra Port to smooth
This contretemps well before the current Yet perhaps more ac- exports and imports, the
prompted cancellation of debacle. curately, Adani is more strangulating red tape that
a mega Rs.20,000 crore Reading it is likely to reminiscent of his hero all businessmen are heir
($2.4 billion) FPO (follow persuade readers that fail- and role model, the late to, was cut by Congress
public issue) of Adani ure of the FPO and recent Dhirubhai Ambani (1932- chief ministers of Gujarat.
Enterprises Ltd (AEL), the setbacks notwithstanding, 2002). From an Aden- Yet as Bhaskar writes,
flagship ‘incubator’ com- the Adani growth story is based petrol pump atten- the moot point is that
pany of the Adani Group. not over. dant and later yarn trader, Adani has never denied
This precipitous fall in Indeed, this reviewer denied funding by gov- friendship and assistance
the fortune of the most en- hopes it will persuade a ernment-controlled term provided by politicians
terprising, go-getting busi- soft-headed citizenry into lending institutions and across all party lines.
ness leader of recent years believing that 21st century banks, Ambani went over Therefore in the
whose brilliantly strat- India needs 1,000 x 2As their heads to the public to interests of national
egised ventures in core (Ambani and Adani) to raise mountains of money. development, Adani
infrastructure industries fulfil its full potential and Before he died in 2002, constructed Mundra port
— sea-ports, coal, power destiny. he grew Reliance Indus- which required huge
generation and transmis- By any yardstick, the tries (RIL) into one of paperwork and licenses. In
sion, green energy, cement rise of Gautam Adani, the wealthiest companies this unbiased biography,
production, data sciences, the fifth child of Shantilal worldwide (Rs.696,972 Bhaskar demonstrates that
edible oil imports — kept Adani, an Ahmedabad crore in 2022). RIL has friendship with the prime
the economy and stock commodities trader of created over 250,000 well- minister may win licences
market afloat during the “limited means”, to #3 in paid jobs that sparked an and permissions, but the
pandemic lockdown, is the the Forbes rich list within unprecedented consumer PM can’t help with project

74 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2023