Adani Group's Expanding Global Footprint Bolsters India's Image: Industry Sources
A major reason the Adani Group is undertaking projects in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Kenya among others is because of its promoters "high risk-appetite" which is unmatched in India Inc, people familiar with group's expansion plans told Sputnik India.
SputnikWhile ports-to-mining billionaire conglomerate Adani Group has enjoyed a long association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi dating back to the Gujarat days, the Indian group's expansion into building ports, airports and infrastructure in other countries is because of several reasons, industry sources have told Sputnik India.
"What's wrong if an Indian Prime Minister is lobbying for Indian business interests? All the Indian companies are free to participate in these ventures. The Adani Group just has a bigger risk-appetite than others. This risk-taking ability sets it apart from many of its peers which may have the means to undertake global projects," sources said, throwing a light on the conglomerate's thinking.
"The US president bat for American companies, the same way a Chinese President would argue for expanding the global footprint of Chinese companies. In the case of rapid modernisation experienced by the 'Asian Tigers' between 1960s to 1990s, there were some business houses actively promoted by the respective governments," sources asserted.
Further, sources claimed that Adani's plans were "inextricably linked" to India's national interests and bolstering its global image as it aspires to become the world's third-largest economy by 2030.
"The group's policy would remain the same, irrespective of the government in power. Even under a Congress-led government, Adani would continue to align its global growth strategy in line with India's national interest," sources stated.
They said that be it in South Asia or Africa or Israel for that matter, the group has always been supportive of Indian foreign policy aims.
"Adani's involvement in Sri Lanka's West International Terminal (CWIT) and renewable energy projects should be viewed as an extension of New Delhi's efforts to help Colombo navigate the balance of payments (BOP) crisis spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and which climaxed when Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt commitments," they said.
In Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus administration has reportedly sought to review the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed between Adani Power Jharkhand Limited (APJL) and Dhaka signed back in 2017. Under the terms of the pact, APJL's Godda coal-fired plant, linked to Bangladesh's national electricity grid, would export 100 percent of its power to the Bangladesh.
In this context, sources rejected reports that APJL's cost of exporting power, which stood at 14.02 Bangladeshi Taka per unit, was higher than others.
"As far we understand, the PPA required electricity to be produced from coal of a certain calorific value. Such a coal variety is not available in India and has to be imported from countries like Australia," sources informed.
They underscored that Adani's initiative to enter Bangladesh's electricity market was also spurred by Indian government's commitment to help Dhaka in addressing acute power shortages, which were affecting not only households but also major industries.
Speaking about the group's plans in African nations such as Tanzania and Kenya, sources said that Adanis were guided by India's economic and diplomatic push to priortise the continent in its foreign policy, which was evidenced last year when African Union (AU) became a formal member of the G-20 at the New Delhi Summit.
"Adani International Ports Holdings Pte Ltd's (AIPH) 30-year pact to operate and manage Container Terminal 2 at the Dar es Salaam Port not only serves India's strategic interests, but also provides Tanzania with more options amid Great Power rivalry. It is a contract purely won on merit," sources said.
They said that the group has shown its ability to manage the Haifa Port, equipping it with "world's most advanced cranes and traffic management system", ensuring a turnaround time of 0.7 days.
"The average turnaround time in any other Indian port is 2.1 days," sources said, adding that the joint acquisition of Haifa was in itself a win for Indian interests due to a proposed New Delhi-backed connectivity initiative.
According to sources, the root cause of "negative publicity" about Adani's activities were
apprehensions in the 'US Deep State'.
"While the US banks and investors support Adani in public, its Deep State wouldn't always want Adani, or any other Indian company for that matter, to become too strong. The US would always like India Inc to be subservient to American business interests. Adani and India Inc are victims of this US hypocrisy," sources explained.
Adani Can Help India Meet its Geostrategic Objectives: Ex-Envoy
Backing the expansion of Indian companies in globally, former Indian Ambassador Anil Trigunayat said that Indian private sector's growing footprint helped New Delhi's "geostrategic objectives".
"In order to develop our comprehensive power economic diplomacy is equally or perhaps more important in today's world. In this quest big Indian companies with a much stronger economic heft can help serve the foreign policy interests while becoming global players in their own right," the ex-Indian Ambassador stated.
Trigunayat highlighted that backing their own private sector had been the "standard approach" of all major powers and New Delhi wasn't "unique" in charting the same strategy.
"In my view we must facilitate our businesses secure opportunities in a consistent and transparent manner which we are doing," the former Ambassador stated.
On the other hand, a Bangladeshi expert spelled out the critical importance of Indian electricity exports for his country.
"Since 2009, Awami League government mainly focused to meeting demand of electricity by setting a very large number of Quick Rental Power Stations (QRPS). In addition, they initiated coal-bases power plant and nuclear power plant at Rooppur. Until Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) goes into operation, country's electricity crisis shall continue. Under such circumstances, importing electricity from Adani is essential, as suspension of this supply shall result in countrywide acute power crisis, which will hamper industrial establishments, including readymade garment factories (RMG)," Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, an author and editor of Blitz publication, told Sputnik.
"In my opinion, there is no alternative to buying electricity from Adani at this moment, until Bangladesh gets required supplies from coal-based power plant in Rampal as well as nuclear power plant in Rooppur," Choudhury concluded.