Dhirubhai Ambani is my role model and Mukesh Ambani a very good friend, says Gautam Adani

• India’s richest and world’s third richest person Gautam Adani was in the hot seat on Rajat Sharma’s ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show on Saturday.
• In the hour-long show, the billionaire from Gujarat addressed several controversial topics like his closeness with the ruling BJP, his group debt and more.
• Adani revealed that Reliance Industries’ founder, the late Dhirubhai Ambani is his role model, and that Mukesh Ambani is a very good friend.

India’s richest and world’s third richest person Gautam Adani was in the hot seat on Rajat Sharma’s ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show on Saturday. In the hour-long show, the billionaire from Gujarat addressed several controversial topics like his closeness with the ruling BJP, and Mukesh Ambani, his closest rival.

“To become successful, discipline and hard work is the only formula, leave the rest to God,” Adani said in the opening segment of the show.

‘Doubting the class topper who achieved the first rank’

The show, which is known to make top celebrities answer the most uncomfortable questions about themselves, started off with the political connections that Gautam Adani allegedly enjoys.

The opposition parties have termed Adani’s meteoric rise as a case of “crony capitalism”. He is known to be close to the ruling BJP government. One of Adani’s frequent critics is Rahul Gandhi, senior leader of the primary opposition party, the Indian National Congress.

The show’s anchor Sharma pointed out how Gandhi has been critical of Adani over the past eight years, calling him “ungrateful”, amongst other things.

On this, Adani said, “Rahul Gandhi is a senior leader of the Congress party. As an industrialist, I think it’s not good that I pass a comment about him. He’s a respected leader and wants the progress of the country. Sometimes in the heat of politics, he makes a comment, but I don’t consider it anything more than a political comment.”

Adani added that his companies don’t bag projects in only BJP-ruled states. “We want to make maximum investments in every state. Adani group is happy that it is working in 22 states, and not all of them are ruled by the BJP,” he said.

“I can say with clarity that we do not have any problem with any state government. We work in Left-ruled Kerala, with Mamata Didi in West Bengal, in Naveen Patnaikji’s Odisha, with Jagan (in Andhra Pradesh), and KCR (in Telangana),” he added.


Gandhi also alleged that the Modi government has given away business in key areas like mining, green energy, power and others to Adani’s group companies.

On this, Adani said, “We have not done any work without bidding. We don’t enter any business without bidding or merits. Adani’s group’s philosophy has been to not touch anything without bidding.”

“This is like doubting how the class topper has achieved the first rank,” he quipped.

‘Lenders don’t give loans based on what someone says’

Adani’s rise has also been criticized for being funded by debt. Sharma pointed out that Adani’s critics say he has over ₹2 lakh crore worth of debt in the books of his companies.

Responding to this, Adani said, “Our credit rating is equal to that of India’s sovereign rating. We have brought down the share of loans taken from banks in India to 35% of our total debt now, from 80% in 2013.”

“The rest of it is from outside India, and those lenders don’t give loans based on what someone says in India. So, this allegation is entirely baseless,” he added.


‘Mukesh bhai is a very good friend’

As Adani rose through the ranks of the world’s richest, he also displaced Mukesh Ambani as India’s richest man — who had been holding on to the tag for a very long time. In addition, both the business groups’ interests clash be it green hydrogen, renewable energy and most recently media.

On the topic of rivalry, Adani said that Ambani is a very good friend of his, and that his late father, Dhirubhai Ambani is his role model.

“Dhirubhai is a role model. The way he set up and scaled Reliance Industries even before liberalization, he showed the way forward. He is an inspiration,” Adani said.

Adani also praised Mukesh Ambani, saying he took the Reliance group forward and expanded it. “Mukesh bhai is a very good friend. I respect him a lot. He gave Reliance Industries a new direction with Jio, technology and retail, apart from his primary petrochemical business. He has made a big contribution towards developing the country,” he said.

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