India to add trillion dollars to GDP every 18 months, says Gautam Adani

Addressing the students of Jai Hind College in Mumbai, Adani said post-independence, it took India 58 years to reach its first trillion dollars of GDP, 12 years for the next trillion, and just 5 years

India is on track to becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2050, with the country poised to add a trillion dollars to its GDP every 18 months in the next decade, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said on Thursday.

Addressing students of Mumbai’s Jai Hind College, Adani said that after Independence, India took 58 years to reach its first trillion dollars of GDP, 12 years for the next trillion, and just 5 years for the third.

“I anticipate that in the next decade, India will begin adding a trillion dollars to its GDP every 18 months putting us on track to become a $30 trillion economy by 2050. This pace and scale of growth will drive incredible possibilities for all of us,” Adani  said.

Adani, however, said India will face several challenges.

"Given the all-round progress we have witnessed over the past decade, we can be optimistic that we will have the economic strength to work through the challenges,” Adani said.

Adani said the group’s leadership spirit was more visible during the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s report in January last year, which resulted in conglomerate’s shares losing $150 billion in market valuation. The group denied the allegations and its shares bounced back after promoters as well as group companies sold shares to pre-pay debt.

“This was not a typical financial strike. It was a dual assault targeting our financial stability and pulling us into a political storm. It was a calculated move, timed just days before the close of our follow-on public offer and designed to cause maximum damage, and amplified by certain media with vested interests,” he explained.

“In the middle of this turbulence, we made an extraordinary decision. After successfully raising Rs 20,000 crore through India’s largest-ever FPO, we decided to return the proceeds as a sign of commitment to the values we hold,” Adani added.  

He also noted that the group subsequently raised crores from other sources and proactively reduced its debt-to-Ebitda (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) ratio to below 2.5 times — a figure unparalleled even among the most robust infrastructure companies globally.