Gautam Adani urges rating agencies to develop new credit framework

Adani said conventional credit models may not capture ecosystem multipliers, adjacency value and strategic resilience created by large integrated infrastructure platforms

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani on Monday urged rating agencies to develop a new credit framework to assess "integrated platform infrastructure”, arguing that conventional models may not fully capture the wider economic and strategic value created by large infrastructure projects.

 

Speaking at the CareEdge Conversation on 'Infrastructure Landscape: Vision for Viksit Bharat' organised by credit rating firm CareEdge here, Adani called on CareEdge Group to develop what he described as the world’s first comprehensive Credit Framework for Integrated Platform Infrastructure.

 

“Why should the world’s first truly comprehensive Credit Framework for Integrated Platform Infrastructure not come from India? Why should CareEdge not lead it?” Adani said. He said such a framework should be capable of evaluating multi-dimensional infrastructure and recognising ecosystem multipliers, adjacency value and strategic resilience.

  

Adani’s comments come against the backdrop of what he described as a transformation in India’s infrastructure landscape. He said traditional analytical frameworks were developed at a time when infrastructure evolved incrementally, demand was relatively visible, and the boundaries of an asset were easier to define.

 

These frameworks, he said, were typically based on “siloed single-asset Discounted Cash Flow models” that price risk by isolating an asset from its environment. “India has now entered a very different period. The nature of infrastructure has changed, and the sophistication of our rating frameworks must evolve alongside the sophistication of what India is building,” he said.

 

Adani said there was a need to distinguish between three types of infrastructure — replacement infrastructure, growth infrastructure, and platform infrastructure.

 

Replacement infrastructure involves expanding existing capacity, maintaining proven assets and replacing ageing capacity, where he said traditional rating frameworks work well. Growth infrastructure involves adding capacity in established sectors where demand is visible, and economics are broadly understood. Here, existing frameworks should evolve to capture ecosystem effects and multiplier value, rather than only standalone cash flows, he said.

 

Platform infrastructure, however, combines multiple infrastructure layers and creates new capabilities, he said, citing the group’s Mundra port in Gujarat, Vizhinjam port in Kerala and its renewable energy development at Khavda in Gujarat.

 

According to him, such platforms do not merely satisfy existing demand but create new demand, ecosystems and capabilities, while changing the economics around them. “If we build only for the demand we can see today, India will always be late for the opportunities of tomorrow,” he added.

 

Adani stated that conventional credit models correctly measure execution risk. “But, in strategic infrastructure, we must also learn to recognise the economic value of sovereign resilience.” Adani cited the example of Khavda, where his group is building a 30 gigawatt renewable energy platform.

 

He said a traditional framework could identify the project’s extreme isolation, harsh desert conditions, execution risk and uncertain demand. However, he argued that such an assessment would miss the wider role of the project. “Khavda is a platform where energy, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, digital infrastructure and industrial capability converge at an unprecedented scale,” he said.

 

He said the value of infrastructure today was increasingly being created at the intersection of different sectors. “Rating frameworks often measure individual assets. But we must realise that the real value in today’s age is being created at the intersection, where ‘energy + data + manufacturing’ converge,” he said.

 

Adani linked this convergence to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), saying AI ultimately depends on physical infrastructure. “AI may look like software. But, ultimately, AI runs on infrastructure,” he said.

 

AI models require electricity, data centres, cooling, transmission networks and land, besides clean and reliable energy at large scale, he said. The competitive advantage in AI, therefore, may depend not only on software but also on the ability to build infrastructure that allows intelligence to scale.

 

Adani, however, stressed that his proposal did not amount to a call for lower rating standards or reduced scrutiny. “This is not a call for less scrutiny. It is not a call for easier ratings. And, it is not a call to compromise independence. India does not need lower standards. India needs wider lenses,” he said.

 

He called for dynamic models that recognise the “compounding power of national platforms”, while retaining the independence of rating agencies and avoiding support for “unviable ambition”.

 

The proposed framework, he said, should recognise ecosystem multipliers, adjacency value and the wider effects of integrated infrastructure platforms. He added that an Indian framework could eventually become a benchmark for emerging economies around the world.

 

According to a report by CareEdge, India’s infrastructure cycle is set to shift from capacity creation to integration, efficiency and monetisation, with energy storage, transmission and flexible thermal power becoming critical as renewable capacity rises.

 

Storage requirements are projected to reach 411 gigawatt-hour (GWh) by financial year 2032 (FY32), requiring over ₹4 trillion of capex, while transmission could attract around ₹5.19 trillion during FY27-FY31.

 

Solar manufacturing is likely to move towards backward integration and cost competitiveness amid potential module oversupply, while smart metering and data centres emerge as strategic digital infrastructure, with data centre capacity expected to reach 7-8 Gw by FY31.

 

Roads, ports and airports are entering a more execution- and efficiency-focused phase, while infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) are poised for continued growth, with their assets under management (AUM) expected to cross ₹8 trillion in FY27 from ₹7.11 trillion in FY26.