Asia's richest man, rich overnight.
Indians are divided into three, six and nine, but from the bottom "untouchables" of 200 million ran out of Asia's richest man. In the past, Indian netizens said that he "won glory for the country", but now some people call him the "king of fraud", Indian Hu Xueyan, red-top businessman Adani, how did he complete this set of rich magic in two years?
India makes money, India spends, and in this place where Musk has to go around, there is a richest man in Asia and the second richest in the world. It took Adani two years to soar in assets from $15.7 billion to $150.6 billion, equivalent to a Bill Gates increase, faster than printing money.
In addition to Microsoft's indisputable and Gates' divorce, the key reason is that Adani has India's strongest circle of friends and has become an old iron with Indian Prime Minister Modi. This may be that the real strong never complain about the general environment, what should I do if I can't beat it? Just join in.
Of the 1.4 billion Indians, 200 million do not have enough to eat, 300 million young people cannot find jobs, and 600 million have to bathe in a water. And this "second richest man in the world", he not only failed to solve substantive problems, but also squeezed out India's poor. Thirty years ago, Adani was a diamond sorter on an assembly line. But now the only thing Indians can't escape except birth and death is the water that Adani drinks at home, the oil he uses, the coal and natural gas he burns, and you have to pay Adani money when you go out, whether it's a road on the ground, a plane in the sky, or a port by the sea.
In the past few years, the epidemic coupled with the Russian-Ukrainian war, the global energy supply is tight, electricity prices have risen, and Adani has become rich overnight by monopolizing the coal business in India. In recent years, 230 million Indians have earned less than $5 a day, and Adani has earned $250 million a day. It is said that this well-off depends on hard work, and getting rich depends on luck. Under the protection of Modi, Adani only has to wait for the money to be delivered to the door, and he can buy whatever he wants at a low price, what if the money is not enough? Find a bank to borrow.
For example, if he wants to buy a piece of land for construction, he can buy 32 rupees for 600-900 rupees per square meter, the cheapest and cheapest, just need to use 1 rupee to meaning. Even more exaggerated was India's open bid in 2018 to privatize six major airports that unsurprisingly ended in the pockets of Adani, who had no experience. And these buy-and-buy money is still sent by the bank.
Adani wants to go to Australia to dig coal mines, and the international market feels that it destroys the ecological environment and does not borrow money. In the end, it was the State Bank of India that lent $1 billion with a wave of his hand. That's it, in almost every infrastructure sector in India, you can see Adani's shadow.
There are even Indian netizens who ridicule that Modi is Adani's secretary, but the rich man created by the whole country is not worrying, his brother was arrested for tax evasion, and his brother, who lives in Dubai, was questioned about the transfer of funds. But none of that is a big deal for Adani.
Adani's plant was closed in 2014 due to environmental concerns, but resumed operations immediately. India's top anti-smuggling agency, the Revenue Intelligence Bureau, said Adani not only inflated the price of diamonds to evade taxes, but also transferred funds abroad. But in the end, the court said that there was no such thing. In fact, there is only one reason.
Modi just became prime minister at that time, and netizens couldn't stand it, saying Adani, did you save Modi's life? If there are three words to summarize the relationship between Adani and Modi, it is fellow countryman, classmate and old iron. Both were born in Gujarat, India's westernmost state, where they attended university, but Adani dropped out early to join the factory.
Modi went into politics, and in 2002 Adani was an unknown little boss. Modi, their pimple first minister, is being overwhelmed by local ethnic unrest. All business elites saw that Modi had to go around in circles, and only Adani made a decision against his ancestors to support Modi.
In the 2014 Indian election, Adani threw a lot of money to create momentum for Modi, using his private jet to pull Modi to fly across the country to canvass votes. Hey~ You said this bet is really right! It was both the most important investment of Adani's life and his trump card against nationalism.
At the beginning of this year, Hindenburg, a well-known short-selling institution in the United States, released an investigation report, saying that Adani Group manipulated stocks to engage in financial fraud, causing Adani Group to lose $153 billion in market value. And because the Adani Group owes too much debt, Indians are worried about whether the money stored in banks and insurance companies will be lost, and the Bank of India has to rush forward at this time to say that it does not affect the financial system.
Adani's own assessment of this matter is that the Adani Group is the US imperialist wants to engage India, and this turmoil is far from over. Adani has frequently invited bankers to visit recently, after all, he will have to borrow money from them in the future.
Adani's story can be called the Indian version of Gao Qiqiang's family history, he came from humble beginnings, and finally became a red-capped businessman, and his journey can be said to be invincible and unimpeded. And what paved the way for him was India's withering reputation and the hard-to-turn bottom people.