Gautam Shantilal Adani is an Indian billionaire industrialist who rose from being a school dropout sorting diamonds in Mumbai to building a massive global infrastructure and energy empire as the founder and chairman of the Adani Group. Early Life and Background * **Birth & Family:** Born on June 24, 1962, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, into a Gujarati Jain family. He was the seventh of eight children born to Shantilal and Shantaben Adani, a small textile-merchant family. * **Education:** Left school early and dropped out in the second year of a commerce degree at Gujarat University. * **Move to Mumbai:** In 1978, at age 16, he moved to Mumbai with very little money. He worked as a diamond sorter for Mahindra Brothers, learning patience and precision. Entering Business and Early Ventures * **PVC Plastics:** In 1981, he returned to Ahmedabad to help run his brother Mahasukhabhai's polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic film unit. This introduced him to global trade and raw material imports. * **Adani Exports:** In 1988, he founded Adani Exports (now known as Adani Enterprises), starting as a small commodity trading business. * **Economic Liberalization:** When India opened its economy in 1991, it expanded rapidly into global trade, importing polymers and exporting textiles and agro-products. Building the Infrastructure Empire * **Mundra Port:** In 1994, he acquired rights to develop a small pier at Mundra in Gujarat. It transformed into India's largest private port and a massive Special Economic Zone (SEZ), laying the foundation for its industrial rise. * **Diversification:** Over the decades, the Adani Group expanded into power generation, thermal and renewable energy, coal mining, natural gas distribution, airports, edible oils (Adani Wilmar), cement (Ambuja Cements), and media (NDTV). * **Personal Life:** He married Priti Vora, a dentist who leads the Adani Foundation, in 1986. They have two sons, Karan and Jeet, who hold key leadership roles in the conglomerate.