Gautam , Adani, the , billionaire , behind India’s Adani Group, has built an empire stretching fuel, flights, cement and advertising, propelling him to popularity as one of the wealthiest people dead.
But his rise has n’t been without turbulence.
Corporate fraud claims, a property crash, and then a US accusation accusing Adani of orchestrating a US$ 265 million corruption scheme have harmed Adani’s fortune.
Who is the creator behind the sprawling company, and how did the 62-year-old become one of the world’s richest people?
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT TO TYCOON
Unlike many businessmen who inherit their money, Adani came from a middle-class home.  ,
Born in Ahmedabad in northern India’s Gujarat position, Adani , dropped out of school at 16 to become a stone businessman in monetary capital Mumbai.  ,
He branched out into the export trade in 1988 after a short stay in his friend’s plastics company.
Seven years later, he received a commitment to construct and run a business transport port in Gujarat.  , It grew to become India’s largest at a time when most ships were government-owned.
Now, Adani Group spans flights, shipping ports, electricity generation, electricity distribution and even cooking fuel, making it one of India’s most important conglomerates.
More recently, Adani set his gaze on becoming India’s biggest clean electricity person by 2030.
It is the largest private creator of coal outside of India, having large coal mining activities in Indonesia and Australia.
Adani is for US$ 69.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the country’s 22nd richest person and India’s second-richest people behind Reliance Industries Chair Mukesh Ambani.
NARROWLY ESCAPED DEATH
Adani and an associate reportedly were kidnapped on New Year’s Day 1998 after gunmen demanded a US$ 1.5 million payment, before being later freed at an unidentified area.
A decade later, he was dining at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace resort when it was besieged by militants, who killed 160 citizens in one of India’s worst terror attacks.
Adani allegedly hid in the room all day before being rescued by security personnel the following morning along with hundreds of others.
After his private plane touched down in his town of Ahmedabad later that evening, he recounted the incident as” I saw dying at a distance of only 15 feet”.