Adani’s massive infra push will help India to achieve self-sufficiency
Adani’s big ticket investments in the country’s core infrastructure could be a powerful engine of Indian economic growth.
During the colonial era, the British government developed basic infrastructures such as railways, ports, water transportation, and factories in India.
This was done primarily to serve the colonial interest of their ‘Royal Bosses’ back in England to export every possible product out of India.
Indeed, Britain’s Industrial Revolution largely depended on this infrastructure for systematic theft.
The history of Indian Railways dates back over 170 years. The first passenger train in India started between Bombay and Thane in 1853.
The first ‘commercial train’ started between Roorkee and Piran Kaliyar in 1851 to transport materials necessary to build the Ganga Canal — one of the world’s most significant and costliest artificial waterways.
British built the Ganga canal to avoid any disastrous famine like the Agra Famine of 1837–38, in which nearly 800,000 people died, resulting in considerable revenue losses to the British East India Company.
It was all about ensuring that the workforce never stopped working at any cost.
In the same way, Kolkata Port was born in 1870 under British rule, and for years it remained the second largest and busiest port in the British Empire after London. Even in the 1920s, a few years after the end of World War I, Kolkata Port kept handling nearly half of India’s trade.
But after independence, India could not develop the world-class infrastructure it needed.
After gaining independence, India needed essential infrastructure, such as roadways, power plants, airports, and core industries, among other things.
There were only a handful of private business houses, and most had inadequate financial and technical resources. Therefore, the government had to step in for India to close the gap in the country’s infrastructure.
From 1947 until the late 1980s, the Indian government prioritized the public sector. Despite years of substantial public spending, the country’s infrastructure was still insufficient to meet its requirements. It left a vast imbalance between demand and supply, which the government could not close on its own.
But things began to change post-economic liberalization in 1991. And one Group, in particular, set out to put India on the map of high-quality infrastructure development.
Adani Group started investing heavily in infrastructure and logistics.
Adani Group has developed thirteen domestic ports in eight maritime states in less than two decades — Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and West Bengal handling a capacity of 500 MMTPA. Recently, the Group has acquired port projects in Sri Lanka (Colombo Port) and Israel (Haifa Port).
Adani Group is also investing heavily to upgrade seven airports — Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram. The Group is also developing a Greenfield Airport Project in Navi Mumbai
Adani Group owns the longest private railway line spanning about 300 km in India. These rail lines are connected to their ports, mines, and other business hubs to ensure seamless cargo movement.
The Group is also constructing three significant highways — Bilaspur-Pathrapali in Chattisgarh, Suryapet-Khammam, and Mancherial –Repallewada in Telangana — comprising approximately 650 lane-Kilometre.
Adani Group has scaled up its nascent cement business overnight by acquiring Holcim India units for $10.5 billion in May, less than a year after setting up a cement subsidiary.
Adani Group is now steadily building up its metals portfolio after announcing plans for steel and copper plants earlier in the year. In June, Adani Enterprises raised a loan of Rs. 60.7 billion for a 500,000 tonnes new copper refinery complex in Gujarat.
Following its investment in the cement, copper, and steel sector, Adani Group plans to invest Rs. 57,575 crores in a 4 MMTPA integrated alumina refinery project and a 30 MMTPA iron ore project.
All the above projects are essential for the country’s rapid economic development.
