Chairman of the Adani Group and India’s richest person Gautam Adani is widely known for his business acumen and smart decision-making skills. In the past year, the billionaire industrialist achieved major milestones like surpassing Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani to become India’s richest person, then bagging the world’s third richest person spot and a few days later, becoming the second richest person globally.
In a few decades, Adani has erected a conglomerate which has a footprint in several sectors ranging from renewable power generation to power distribution. While a lot is known about the 60-year-old industrialist on the professional front, very little about his personal life is available in the public space.
Adani recently got candid about the different facets of his personal life, how he spends time with his family, grandchildren and more in a tell-all interview with India TV. Gautam ‘Toofani’, as he is known by his friends, is a very shy man in his personal life, he revealed during his appearance on India TV’s Aap Ki Adalat show.
India’s richest person regrets not completing his education
Gautam Adani got candid about his early life to share that he was 15 years old when he passed his 10th grade. Coincidently, he belonged to a family situation that without completing his studies or graduation, he had to come to Mumbai to find work. Adani admitted to being good at his studies but he was unable to complete it. “I had chosen Engineering as a technical subject. I was good at Math too. But the situations were such that I had to keep my studies on the back burner and I got into the business,” he told India TV’s Rajat Sharma.
“I believe education is very important. Education makes a person knowledgeable. I wasn’t able to choose that path, and that’s my misfortune. I chose another path – hard work and experience. That hard work and experience increased my wisdom,” Adani shared.
The industrialist wonders had he had the education along with this hard work and experience, then he would’ve become much bigger than the current Gautam Adani.
Adani used to have a scooter
Now, Adani has a rich and luxurious life but there was a time when he used to have a scooter. This is what gives him the “mindset of a person travelling by a scooter, a rickshaw, a bus or be it a jet”. This is because I have been through that journey, Adani noted adding, “Just because I travel by a jet, it doesn’t mean I’m not rooted to the ground.”
When he was kidnapped
The billionaire revealed that he didn’t lose his cool and wasn’t perturbed after he was released by his kidnappers. Instead, he slept very well. “It’s not in me to lose my peace over what’s not in our control. I was kidnapped and released the next day. I tell you, that I slept well that very night. So, I never feel that pressure,” Adani said.
The 26/11 attack story
The Adani Group chairman also relived the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. “I remember everything and I saw the terrorists in front of me when they fired their first round. I’m thankful to God, that I’ve seen two close-to-death experiences. I think it’s God’s grace that I was saved,” he said.
Adani was dining with the Dubai Port CEO at the Masala Craft restaurant in Taj when the incident happened around 10 pm. Just 5 minutes before that, they had paid the bill and were ready to leave. However, Adani said that his friend wanted to discuss more, so they stayed back for coffee and that’s when this incident occurred.
He is thankful for the dedication shown by the employees of Taj Group, be it their waiters or any of them. He recalled being trapped there all night. “The employees of Taj took me to the Chamber from the path behind the kitchen. I was there all night. At around 7 am the commandos came and were aware that many people were trapped there. So, with full protection, the commanders escorted us outside the hotel premises. I got away about 7:30 – 8 am the next day,” he narrated.
Gautam ‘Toofani’
The billionaire’s friends call him Toofani. “Friends call by different names, but I’m not Toofani,” he said.
Adani on his first meeting with wife Priti
Before marriage when Adani met her Priti for the first time, he did not talk at all and was quiet. “I’m a very shy person and I’m uneducated and she is a doctor, so naturally there was some mismatch,” he said on the incident.
How Adani spends time with family
Adani shared that he is out of Ahmedabad three days in a week. When the industrialist is there for four days, he reaches office late at about 10:30 to 11 o’ clock because “I come late at night at about 11 or 12.”
Adani’s morning routine is such that he wakes up at 6:30 am, does exercise for one hour. After this, he talks to his wife Priti Adani, children, and granddaughter for 2 to 2½ hours over the dining table. He also reads newspapers. “I spend couple of hours with them.”
He has also made a rule that even if he is in the office at lunch time, every member of the Adani family is in the dining room, whoever are available and we talk. “That is how basically I’m spending time with them,” he said.
Adani’s secret
Adani plays rummy paplu game with his wife at night. “This is a secret, when I go at night, I play rummy paplu game with Preeti. I play 8-10 games, and most of the time she wins,” Adani revealed on the show.
Among several other things, the 60-year-old also highlighted that RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani is a very good friend and he respects him a lot. “The new direction that he gave to Reliance Industries in Jio, technology, retail, and of course his conventional business petrochemicals and refinery, the way he has worked he has contributed a lot for the development of the country,” he said.
