A new biography of Gautam Adani intrigues readers about his life, controversies

In 2007 senior journalist RN Bhaskar wrote an article titled lsquoThe Man Who Could Change Indiarsquo ldquoLast yearrdquo says the educator and researcher ldquoI looked back at what industrialist Gautam Adani had done and realised he had indeed changed India My title was propheticrdquoThe groundwork for his soontorelease biography Gautam Adani Reimagining Business in India and the World started a decade ago Members of the Adani family and senior executives requested Bhaskar to write a book to mark the Adani grouprsquos chairman founderrsquos 50th birthday in 2013ldquoThey wanted a small 150page book for family and friendsrdquo says Bhaskar who sensed an opportunity ldquoIt gave me a frontrow seat to his life and access to family and key management membersrdquo Gautam Adani Game Changer was released in 2014 and it talked about his lsquotoofanirsquo childhood and how he orchestrates an annual pilgrimage for the whole clanmdashfive siblings their spouses and children among other thingsSenior journalist RN Bhaskar first wrote about industrialist Gautam Adani in 2007 His first book Game India Seven Strategic Advantages That Can Steer India to Wealth made a brief mention of Adani PicSameer MarkandeldquoA couple of years later when Adani began making international headlines I knew it was time for a second bookrdquo says the senior journalist ldquoBy 2020 I was working on it seriously and Penguin publisher Penguin Random House got in touchrdquo When he requested permission to write the book the Adani family andexecutives refusedldquoWhen industrialists donrsquot give permission and you still go ahead there are risks They could impose a stay on the bookrdquo says Bhaskar who decided to continue writing but without antagonising the family and core team ldquoA year ago I told the family that I am going ahead with the book and a manager demanded the manuscript I replied with a stronglyworded email and copied Gautam Adani on it I mentioned the topics I hadnrsquot touched upon but said I would write news articles about them I would send questions for these and they would be bound to answer and share documentsrdquoThis caught Adanirsquos attention who called him for a meetingldquoIt was very cordialrdquo he says ldquoI asked whether I had misrepresented him in the 18 years wersquod known each other I also pointed out that someone was bound to write a book on him and there was no telling how responsibly it would be donerdquo Adani asked how Bhaskar would tackle some crucial topics ldquoI also told him I have criticised some government policies He asked me if I was writing about Australia Carmichael mine and rail project I told him that I had written only a few pages He requested a whole chapter on it When I told him that I donrsquot have enough documents he instructed his team to give me what I needed When the big man green lights a project nobody comes in the wayrdquoThe book describes Adani as a family man covers the Mundra port at length and touches upon his business strategiesExcerpts from the interviewWhat did you find morally challenging about AdaniI touch upon a couple of instances and there were more that I wanted to cover but by then the book was at the printers I donrsquot agree with his decision to enter the media business Itrsquos dangerous because his success lies in being friends with everyone Mundra port was cleared by Chimanbhai Patel former CM of Gujarat The Railways project was cleared by Nitish Kumar Biharrsquos CM Prime Minister Narendra Modi came only in 2000 as Gujaratrsquos chief minister So while Adanirsquos exposure to him has been longest he has been friendly with all ministers He negotiated a deal with Mamata Banerjee West Bengal CM and another one with Ashok Gehlot Rajasthan CM He even struck a deal with Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister of BangladeshAnother grey area is the gasdistribution service of which he is the largest player Adani has the largest energy terminals a huge pipeline and a vast networkmdashhe is definitely going to make big bucks The problem is that a 2015 Supreme Court verdict assures that the regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board PNGRB wonrsquot interfere with pricing What else does a regulator do The government should have disputed the judgmentYou say the Mundra Port deal was exceptional in two ways It might be the only one where he bought a shareholder out And it was won without an open tendering process It is alleged that he got it dirt cheaphellipWhen he started work on Mundra project planners told him that it would cost him thousands of crores He asked when he could make money from it the answer was once it was ready Then he asked for the littlest thing he could do to generate revenue the answer was a small jetty which would cost him around R5060 crore The jetty began making money by transporting coal it funded the next thing and so on He spent very little from his pocket everything was accrual And he did it in a record time of three to four yearsMundra was an old jetty nobody used Much of the area was marshy land under brackish water and some of it was used as salt pans Nobody wanted it and therefore it wasnrsquot worth much He made a presentation to the Gujarat government to convert it into a port with the state holding 26 per cent equity share capital In 2006 the state government divested its holdings at a price of R120 a share against its original investement of R10 a share it was a good profit Nobody lost moneyHe is said to win many projects without undergoing a tender processhellip of being the prime beneficiary of Modirsquos largesseA tender enters the picture when an opportunity presents itself There was no opportunity at Mundra he created it Defence projects do not invite tendersHe told Mamta Banerjee that he would create 10000 jobs in her state if given Haldia port But Tajpur port in West Bengal was an open tender and he was the highest bidderEvery other deal has been struck through open tender or market competition he bought 5G bandwidth like everyone elsemdashthrough auction But he bought a smaller bandwidth to set up captain networks The next stage is building operative villages around it and going large It is a brilliant strategy at low costAdani does not like paying big money up front Even for his Australia dealmdasha 15 billion projectmdashhe negotiated a forward payment of 500 million and a 2 per tonne royaltybased arrangement for 20 years in exchange for 78 billion tonnes of coal This would be paid after the project started making money This strategy saved him from bankruptcy when the project was stalled for 10 yearsJust a couple of months ago a Sri Lankan official alleged being pressured to award projects to the Adani Group What about other such allegationsAdani bought the rights to a port terminal in Colombo which could prove to be the best transhipment port one could have asked for especially for ships that move from Africa to Australia or Japan or other eastern countries Efficiently without saying a single word he would be taking business away from the international Chinese port of Hambantota Does this benefit India or hurt herFor a power project he must have requested one government to speak to the government of another country which is very common When a big foreign deal is discussed they need government cover to ensure their interest is protectedA review said the book lists what the Adani group has done for the nation As a journalist how do you view this statement Let me put it this way Modi is the PM He wants food security and Adani wants to be a big player in agriculture Both of them see eye to eye Is that wrong for business or the countryI was completely against the three agriculture laws Modi tried to push I even wrote a series of articles on them But a government sometimes requests a powerful industrialistrsquos help with a project and Adani is one good implementer Wherever he goes he first safeguards the local schools with local government approval He brings in management techniques without changing the faculty measures outcomes and makes a chart of the teachersrsquo core abilities The result is so good that parents pull children out of private schools and enroll them in Adanimanaged government ones He has done this with almost 6000 schools And the numbers are growing If a man does something for education and consolidates his relationship with the state whatrsquos wrong