Overview

Adani Group (Hindi: [əd̪aːniː], Gujarati: [əd̪aɳiː]) is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, the Group's businesses include sea and airport management, electricity generation and transmission, mining, natural gas, food, weapons, and infrastructure. It is particularly active in metal commodity exchange. More than 60% of its revenue is derived from coal-related businesses. Noted for its close association with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Adani was the largest Indian conglomerate as of 2022 with a US$206 billion market capitalization, surpassing Tata Group. It lost more than $104 billion in value after fraud and market manipulation allegations by short-seller firm Hindenburg Research. In May 2024, the Adani Group's market capitalization returned to over $200 billion after the Supreme Court directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to expedite its investigation. The Adani Group has also attracted other controversies due to reports suggesting stock manipulation, accounting irregularities, exporting military drones to Israel for its war in Gaza, political corruption, cronyism, tax evasion, environmental damage, and suing journalists. == History == Adani Exports Limited started as a commodity trading company in 1988 and expanded into importing and exporting multiple commodities. With a capital of ₹5 lakhs, the company was established as a partnership firm with the flagship company Adani Enterprises, previously Adani Exports. In 1990, the Adani Group developed its own port in Mundra to provide a base for its trading operations. It began construction at Mundra in 1995. In 1998, it became the top net foreign exchange earner for India Inc. The company began coal trading in 1999, followed by a joint venture in edible oil refining in 2000 with the formation of Adani Wilmar. Adani handled 4 Mt of cargo at Mundra in 2002, becoming the largest private port in India. Later in 2006, the company became the largest coal importer in India with 11 Mt of coal handling. The company expanded its business in 2008, purchasing Bunyu Mine in Indonesia which has 180 Mt of coal reserves. In 2009 the firm began generating 330 MW of thermal power. It also built an edible oil refining capacity in India of 2.2 Mt per annum. In 2010, Adani group with help of Petronet LNG will set up a solid cargo port through a Joint Venture company namely Adani Petronet (Dahej) Port Private Ltd., has already commenced its Phase 1 operations from August 2010 at Dahej Port. solid cargo port terminal would have facilities to import/export bulk products like coal, steel and fertilizer. PLL has 26% equity in this JV. The Adani group became India's largest private coal mining company after Adani Enterprises won the Orissa mine rights in 2010. Operations at the Port of Dahej commenced in 2011 and its capacity subsequently grew to 20 Mt. The company also bought Galilee Basin mine in Australia with 10.4 gigatonnes (Gt) of coal reserves. More than 60 percent of the Adani Group's revenue is derived from coal-related businesses. In 2011, the Adani group also bought Abbot Point port in Australia with 50 Mt of handling capacity. It commissioned India's largest solar power plant with a capacity 40 MW. As the firm achieved 3,960 MW capacity, it became the largest private sector thermal power producer in India. In 2012 The company shifted its focus on three business clusters – resources, logistics and energy. Adani Power emerged as India's largest private power producer in 2014. Adani Power's total installed capacity then stood at 9,280 MW. On 16 May of the same year, Adani Ports acquired Dhamra Port on East coast of India for ₹5,500 crore (equivalent to ₹88 billion or US$1.0 billion in 2023). Dhamra Port was a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and L&T Infrastructure Development Projects, which has been acquired by Adani Ports. The port began operations in May 2011 and handled a total cargo of 14.3 Mt in 2013–14. With the acquisition of Dhamra Port, the group is planning to increase its capacity to over 200 Mt by 2020. In 2015, the Adani Group's Adani Renewable Energy Park signed a pact with the Rajasthan Government for a 50:50 joint venture to set up India's largest solar park with a capacity of 10,000 MW. In November 2015, the Adani group began construction at the port in Vizhinjam, Kerala. Adani Aero Defence signed a pact with the Israeli arms manufacturer, Elbit-ISTAR, and Alpha Design Technologies to work in the field of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in India in 2016. In April, Adani Enterprises secured approval from the Government of Gujarat to begin work on building a solar power equipment plant. In September, Adani Green Energy (Tamil Nadu), the renewable wing of the Adani Group, began operations in Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu with a capacity of 648 MW at an estimated cost of ₹4,550 crore (equivalent to ₹65 billion or US$770 million in 2023). In the same month, the Adani Group inaugurated a 648 MW single-location solar power plant. It was the world's largest solar power plant at the time it was set up. On 22 December 2017, the Adani Group acquired the power arm of Reliance Infrastructure for ₹18,800 crore (US$2.89 billion). In October 2019, French oil and gas company TotalEnergies bought a 37.4% stake in Adani Gas for ₹6,155 crore (US$874.04 million) and obtained joint control of the company. Total also invested US$510 million in a subsidiary of Adani Green Energy in February 2020. In August 2020, Adani Group obtained a majority stake in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports after entering a debt acquisition agreement with GVK Group. Through a concession agreement with the Airports Authority of India, Adani Group also obtained a 50-year lease on Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram airports. In May 2021, Adani Green Energy acquired SB Energy, a joint venture of SoftBank Group and Bharti Enterprises, for US$3.5 billion. In May 2022, the Adani Group acquired Ambuja Cements and ACC for $10.5 billion. The deal will make the Adani Group the second largest cement maker in India. In May 2022, UAE-based conglomerate International Holding Company (IHC), headed by Syed Basar Shueb, invested US$2 billion in three Adani Group companies, namely Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises. In June 2022, TotalEnergies acquired a 25% stake in Adani New Industries, the newly formed green hydrogen subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, for US$12.5 billion. In May 2025, Adani Group abruptly ended its partnership with China-based lounge provider DragonPass, days after announcing it, stating DragonPass users would no longer access Adani airport lounges, with no impact on other customers. == Criticism == === Coal mining in Australia === The Adani Group launched in 2014, with the support of the Australian and Queensland Governments, a mining and rail project, the Carmichael coal mine, in Queensland's Galilee Basin, for $21.5 billion over the life of the project, i.e. 60 years. Its annual capacity would be 10 Mt of thermal coal. In response to pressure by environmental activists, some international banks refused to finance it. The mine has drawn criticism for its environmental impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, water usage, and carbon emissions, leading to a campaign known as Stop Adani, which put pressure on the Big Four banks in Australia not to finance the mine. In November 2018, Adani Australia announced that the Carmichael project would be 100% financed by Adani Group resources. In 2015, the then-head of Adani's Australian mining division came under scrutiny due to his association with a mining pollution incident in Zambia, sparking renewed concerns about Adani's suitability to manage the Carmichael coal mine. According to a collaborative report from Environmental Justice Australia, Jeyakumar Janakaraj held significant positions at a mining company that faced criminal charges related to the contamination of the Kafue River in Zambia. This occurred before he assumed leadership role of Adani's operations in Australia. Specifically, Janakaraj served as the operations director at Konkola Copper Mines in 2010, when the company faced legal charges concerning the discharge of hazardous wastewater into the river. However, the Australian Government characterized Adani's omission of Janakaraj's involvement in the African pollution incident as a "mistake." Although, under section 489 of Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, presenting inaccurate or deceptive information could potentially constitute an offence, the federal government opted not to pursue any legal action against Adani. The Australian Government has been taken to the Federal Court of Australia by the Australian Conservation Foundation twice, once in 2018 and once in March 2020 (still ongoing as of September 2020), relating to its contravention and alleged contravention of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 with respect to the impact of the Carmichael mine on groundwater and the country's water resources. In July 2019, the project received its final approvals from the government, and construction of the mine commenced. In 2020, Adani Mining changed its name to Bravus Mining and Resources. On 29 December 2021, Bravus announced that the first shipment of high-quality coal from the Carmichael mine had been assembled at the North Queensland Export Terminal (NQXT) in Bowen ready for export as planned. === Cronyism === Chairman and MD Gautam Adani has been described as being close to former Chief Minister of Gujarat and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This has led to allegations of cronyism as his firms have won many Indian energy and infrastructure government contracts. In 2012, an Indian government auditor accused Modi of giving low cost fuel from a Gujarat state-run gas company to the Adani group and other companies. In Jharkhand, the BJP-led state government made an exception to its energy policy for Adani's Godda power plant. Both the Adani Group and Modi's government have denied allegations of cronyism. The Forbes Asia noted that Adani Group has over the years leased almost 7,350 hectares of land from the government for the amount as small as " one U.S. cent a square meter (the rate maxed out at 45 cents a square meter). He in turn has sublet this land to other companies, including state-owned Indian Oil Co., for as much as $11 a square meter". Between 2005 and 2007, Adani group acquired around 1200 hectares of land meant for grazing (gauchar) from the villagers for Adani SEZ. In Kutch, Adani group acquired 930,770 square meters of land from the villagers for 19 cents per square meter for its power plant leading to significant environmental damage. Villagers living in Adani SEZ alleged that the land was signed off by village chiefs without their knowledge. Adani group's subsidiary, Adani Ports & SEZ currently operates 15 ports across all Indian states. The Adani group controls seven airports in India, six of which were acquired for 50 years in a bid after an alleged change of rules by the Modi government that had disallowed the group from bidding. Most Adani Group projects outside of India were announced after Narendra Modi's visits to said countries or meetings with their heads of state. In 2021, after a meeting with Modi, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told an official from the electricity board that Modi had pressured him to transfer a wind energy project to the Adani Group. After Modi's visit to Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi government under Sheikh Hasina signed a deal with the Adani Group to import electricity from Jharkhand. The opposition later argued that the deal was signed under pressure from the Modi government. The deal is currently under scrutiny of Bangladesh's interim government. === Leverage === The company's corporate debt totaled $30 billion in 2022. In August 2022, CreditSights, a unit of Fitch Ratings, warned that Adani's recent aggressive expansion had hurt the group's cash flow and credit metrics. It also stated that a potential "worst-case scenario" could lead the group to end up in a debt trap and a potential default. The CreditSights report garnered significant attention for its dire assessment of Adani's "deeply overleveraged" book; after outreach by Adani, CreditSights softened its language but kept its main conclusion. === Stock