By Companies
The Indian economy is set to add one trillion dollars every 18 months within 10 years as India consolidates several groundbreaking initiatives launched by the government and continues economic and social reforms, Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group of companies, said here today.
Addressing the students of Jai Hind College in Mumbai, Adani said post-independence, it took India 58 years to reach its first trillion dollars of GDP, 12 years for the next trillion, and just 5 years for the third. “I anticipate that within the next decade, India will begin adding a trillion dollars to its GDP every 18 months, putting us on track to become a $25 to 30 trillion economy by 2050. This pace and scale of growth will drive incredible possibilities for all of us,” Adani said.
Adani said India will face challenges like every nation does. “However, given the all-round progress we have witnessed over the past decade, we can be optimistic that we will have the economic strength to work through the challenges,” Adani said while recalling how the group fought several crises to become a conglomerate as of today.
Adani said the group’s leadership spirit was more visible than during the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s report in January last year, which resulted in group shares losing $150 billion in market valuation but recovered soon after. “This was not a typical financial strike. It was a dual assault targeting our financial stability and pulling us into a political storm. It was a calculated move, timed just days before the close of our follow-on public offer and designed to cause maximum damage – and further amplified by certain media with vested interests,” Adani said.
“In the middle of all this turbulence, we made an extraordinary decision. After successfully raising Rs 20,000 crore through India’s largest-ever FPO, we decided to return the proceeds as a sign of commitment to the values we hold,” Adani said. He also noted that the group subsequently raised several thousand crores from other sources and proactively reduced its debt-to-Ebitda (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) ratio to below 2.5 times—a figure unparalleled even among the most robust infrastructure companies globally.
“Moreover, our all-time record financial results delivered in the midst of the attack showcased our commitment to operational excellence and was best validated by the tremendous support from the global rating agencies, the financial community, and investors like GQG Partners, TotalEnergies, IHC, QIA, and the US Development Finance Corporation,” Adani said.
First Published: Sep 05 2024 | 8:17 PM IST