Billionaire Gautam Adani said he considers Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) founder Dhirubhai Ambani a role model and his son Mukesh Ambani “a friend”.
The statement from the chairman and founder of Adani Enterprises comes even as two groups find themselves at odds over business interests in many sectors.
“Dhirubhai is a role model, an inspiration to us,” Adani told India TV in an exclusive interview.
He lauded the Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman & managing director for giving a new direction to the conglomerate with Jio and retail businesses.
“Mukesh bhai is also a very good friend of mine. I respect him a lot. He gave a new direction to Reliance with Jio, technology, and retail besides the conventional business of petrochemicals. His efforts have translated into progress for the country,” he added.
After operating in non-overlapping sectors for decades, Adani in the past few years has moved into several sectors hitherto dominated by Ambani’s RIL, leading to speculations over a potential rivalry between the two giants.
Adani recently overtook Mukesh Ambani as Asia’s richest man, with the Adani Enterprises chairman now perched at the number three position on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index with a net worth of USD 117 billion and RIL CMD at eighth with a fortune of USD 86.8 billion.
Adani also spoke at length over Opposition’s allegations that he benefitted immensely from a close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The centibillionaire replied that he got three big breaks in his life: first in 1985 during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure when the government introduced the ‘Exim’ policy, second during PV Narsimha Rao and Dr Manmohan Singh’s period when the government liberalised the economy and third when during Narendra Modi’s 12-year tenure in Gujarat.
