Adani says his company took off under the Rajiv Gandhi govt, dismisses links with ruling party

He said he is often wrongly linked to PM Modi because both of them hail from Gujarat

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, often accused of getting favourable treatment from the ruling BJP-led central government and especially from PM Narendra Modi, said it is wrong to associate him with any one political leader for his business ventures' success.

"But for Rajiv Gandhi, my journey as an entrepreneur would never have taken off," Adani told India Today. Adani said he divides the 30 years of his business journey into four phases that began with Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister when he first liberalised the Exim policy (Export Import Policy) and, for the first time, several items were brought in the OGL (Open General License) list.

“PM Modi and I, both are from Gujarat and that makes me an easy target of such baseless allegations,” he said.

Also Read | India will add $1 trillion to GDP every 12-18 months, says Adani

Adani went on to add that his business received impetus during the early 90s from former PM PV Narasimha Rao and then finance minister Manmohan Singh, whose economic reforms also benefited him. Adani credited the third phase of his business venture's success to former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel who developed coastal areas along Vapi, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Vadodara and other Gujarat cities which prompted him to begin working on the first port under the Adani group.

“It is unfortunate that such narratives are being pushed against me. As I explained, these allegations are baseless and suffer from recency bias seeing our Group’s success through a short-term lens. The fact of the matter is that my professional success is not because of any individual leader but because of the policy and institutional reforms initiated by several leaders and governments during a long period of over three decades," Adani is quoted as saying.

Adani has recently been in the news due to his acquisition of the media company NDTV from its founding owners Radhika and Prannoy Roy. Adani is currently the richest person in Asia and also the third richest in the world.

Also Read | Adani among 3 Indian billionaires on Forbes Asia Heroes of Philanthropy list

The business magnate said the fourth phase of his spurt came under PM Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat CM, for bringing in policies that changed the social and political facets of the state. Adani said that under PM Modi's leadership now, the country is seeing a 'new India' at both national and international levels.