The capital investments will be focussed on the energy and utilities and the infrastructure and logistics sectors, said Sagar Adani, executive director of Adani Green Energy Ltd and nephew of Adani Group chair Gautam Adani.
Sagar Adani spoke with Mint on Wednesday in his first media interview since US authorities in November charged him along with Gautam Adani and group executive Vneet Jaain with securities fraud. He did not comment on the subject.
Gautam Adani said in his recent annual address to shareholders of flagship company Adani Enterprises Ltd that the group would invest $15-20 billion ( ₹1.3-1.7 trillion) annually over the next five years.
That investment figure was the base case, said Jugeshinder Singh, Adani Group’s chief financial officer, adding that under ideal circumstances the investments could be higher.
Adani Group invested ₹1.26 trillion in FY25 and is looking to increase its capital expenditure this financial year, Singh said, adding that the group accounts for a fifth of the private capex in India.
While the bulk of the group’s capex needs will be met through the cash it generates, the conglomerate will need additional fund infusion, including to service its debt, Singh said.
The Adani Group has about ₹1.6 trillion in debt maturities between 2025-26 and 2029-30, as per an investor presentation.
“We will borrow to refinance the debt that we need to pay back. (Including refinancing and capex) we’ll need roughly ₹2.5 lakh crore ( ₹2.5 trillion) in new borrowings over the next five years,” the CFO said.
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Adani Group’s focus: ‘Only two things’
Sagar Adani emphasised Adani Group’s core investment philosophy of focussing on “energy and utilities” and “infrastructure and logistics”, explaining how this helped the conglomerate beat its rivals in commodities such as cement and metals by delivering low-priced products.
“It’s a little bit of a misnomer that we’re a diversified group. We only do two things as a group—one is energy and utilities and the second is transport and logistics,” he said. “All the other things we do are around these two fundamental pillars.”
For instance, in the cement sector, three-fourths of the cost are energy, raw materials, and logistics, Adani explained.
Adani Group, which has become the second-largest cement maker in India by a wide margin through a string of acquisitions starting 2022, is betting on group synergies to source cheap electricity and coal and on low transportation costs to beat peers in terms of margins, Adani said.
“No one can supply electricity at scale and cost better than us, and no one can handle and operate logistics in a more streamlined way that we can,” he said.
The group also plans to invest in copper, aluminium and other metals in the coming years. Adani Group operationalized a copper smelter with capacity for 0.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in Mundra earlier this year, which it plans to ramp up to 1 MTPA. The copper relies on ore imported from Chile.
For aluminium, the group plans to bid for bauxite ore mines through government auctions. Once raw material supply is secured, it will invest in aluminium. Both the metals consume significant energy for production, giving Adani Group an edge by sourcing cheap power, he said.
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Airports demerger, cements merger
Among Adani Group’s various companies, it is the airports business that would be listed next, Sagar Adani said. Presently, this business is housed under the group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises, which is also the group’s incubator for new businesses.
The airports business, which operates eight airports including Mumbai and Ahmedabad, will be ready for demerger from Adani Enterprises by FY28, said Singh, Adani Group’s chief financial officer.
Meanwhile, the group’s multiple listed cement companies, including Ambuja Cements Ltd, ACC Ltd, Sanghi Industries Ltd, and Orient Cement Ltd, as well as unlisted Penna Cement Industries Ltd, will eventually be merged, but only after the operations are streamlined, he added.
“The bigger objective is to first operationally stabilize everything. Currently we are not 100% there,” Singh said, adding that streamlining brands, supply chains, and distribution across the group’s cement companies would take about 18 months.
Sagar Adani added that although Adani Group focusses on energy and infrastructure, it does not face any risk of concentration of assets. “No single asset contributes more than 9% of our Ebitda.” Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, is a key measure of operational efficiency.
Adani Group’s emphasis on its growth strategy comes after Gautam Adani, as per media reports, began talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this year to seek dismissal of the criminal charges against him in the bribery probe. The Adani Group had been previously battling allegations raised by short-seller Hindenburg Research in January 2023.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had in November alleged that the Adanis paid or promised over $250 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure favourable solar energy contracts for Adani Green Energy, the company headed by Sagar Adani.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the DOJ was investigating whether Adani’s companies violated US sanctions on Iran.
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