Navi Mumbai airport to be ready by 2024 end, says Gautam Adani

• Navi Mumbai Airport is on track and is preparing for operational readiness by December 2024, says Adani.
• Adani invokes 'matrabhumi', again slams Hindenburg for malicious attempt to damage reputation.
• Adani reiterates confidence on company's governance and disclosure standards.

Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday said that the Navi Mumbai airport project is on schedule and that it will be operational by 2024 end. The ports-to-energy conglomerate chief was addressing the annual shareholders meeting of Adani Enterprises. For Adani, among many its other new businesses that it is incubating, the airport business is a big one and the Navi Mumbai Airport project is valued at Rs 16,700 crore (US$2.1 billion).

The statement confirms what the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Rajiv Bansal had said in March when he expressed optimism that the Navi Mumbai Airport was likely to be inaugurated by next year.

The announcement also coincides with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurating the new integrated terminal building (NITB) of the Veer Savarkar International Airport at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Adani Airports has won the mandate to modernise and operate six airports that are in Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through a globally competitive tendering process. Adani Airports also manages the Mumbai airport and is developing the Navi Mumbai Airport. The other major project that is ready to go onstream is the copper smelter.

A brief history and why it is important

The Navi Mumbai Airport was first first conceived in 1997. However, it was in 2008, that the then Maharashtra government granted approval for development of the project. The project after many twists and turns was sold to the Adani Group in 2021, and Adani Group started the construction in August 2021.

The airport will serve as the second airport in the financial capital of India. It will be an alternative to Mumbai's existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), becoming the second airport of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Other highlights of Adani's speech

The conglomerate chief again slammed US short-seller Hindenburg for a 'malicious' attempt to damage the reputation of his conglomerate. Adani also said the group's assets and operating cashflows have got stronger and healthier and it will continue to consolidate what it has built while looking at expanding its horizons.

He used the same language as he had used in the annual reports of his group's listed firms last month, to hit back at Hindenburg Research's "malicious" allegations and "false narratives" that "various vested interests tried to exploit".

He has reiterated that his conglomerate remains confident in its governance and disclosure standards.

Hindenburg on January 24 accused Adani of "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud" as well as using a "labyrinthian network" of shell companies for surreptitious money movements, allegations that the conglomerate has strongly denied, calling the report "a calculated attack on India".

Adani then turned to his belief in the future of "matrabhumi" (the motherland). He invoked growth prospects of 'matrabhumi' India and the potential it offers for his business empire.

"While economic cycles are getting increasingly hard to forecast, there is little doubt that India - already the world's 5th largest economy - will become the world's 3rd largest economy well before 2030 and, thereafter, the world's 2nd largest economy by 2050," he said.

Citing the statistics of India's growth story, he said India will start adding a trillion dollar to its GDP every 18 months, putting it on track to be a USD 25 to 30 trillion economy by 2050.

Road ahead...

Post-Hindenburg, Adani Group has recast its ambitions, scrapped acquisitions, pre-paid debt to address concerns about its cash flows and borrowings, and scaled back its pace of spending on new projects as part of a comeback strategy.

Promoters raised USD 1.38 billion (Rs 11,330 crore) through stake sale in three group companies to US-based global equity investment boutique GQG Partners in two tranches. In addition, the three portfolio companies have also received board approval for primary issuances through a share sale to investors as the group continues to build on a comeback strategy.

Adani Enterprises Ltd, the group's flagship firm, plans to raise Rs 12,500 crore through share sale to investors while Adani Transmission another Rs 8,500 crore. Its renewable energy firm plans to raise Rs 12,300 crore.

(With text inputs from PTI)