Women shaped my journey, says Gautam Adani on International Women's Day

NEW DELHI: Marking International Women's Day, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Sunday paid tribute to the women who shaped his life and journey, saying the foundations of his success were built on the strength, values and support he drew from family.

Writing on LinkedIn, he reflected on the influence of his mother Shantaben Adani, recalling how stories from Indian epics such as the Ramayana during his childhood instilled values of courage, sacrifice and duty.

He said he later understood the depth of those lessons when, at the age of 16, he left home for Mumbai to build his own career, recalling the strength it must have taken for his mother to allow him to step into an uncertain future.

Adani also acknowledged the role of his wife Priti Adani, who left a career in dentistry to lead the Adani Foundation, which he said now works across 22 states in India in areas including education, healthcare and livelihoods and has touched more than 10 million lives.

He praised daughters-in-law Paridhi Adani and Diva Adani for bringing "fresh perspectives and new energy" into the family, while also speaking about the joy his granddaughters bring into his life.

Reflecting on his business journey, Adani said that while entrepreneurs may spend decades building infrastructure and companies, the ultimate purpose remains creating a future worthy of the next generation.

"I have always lived between two worlds, work and family. And everything I have built in the first world was made possible because of the strength I draw from the second," he said. "The strongest foundations in life are not built with concrete or steel, but by the people who shape who we become."

Adani said the story of Kaushalya from Ramayana, narrated by his mother, has stayed with him.

Kaushalya watched her son, Lord Rama, give up the rights to his kingdom and leave Ayodhya to walk into exile for 14 years.

"As a child I did not fully understand the depth of that sacrifice. I could not yet grasp what it meant for a mother to stand there and watch her son walk away into an uncertain future," he said adding many years later, he began to understand that moment differently.

At the age of 16, he left home for Mumbai with almost nothing in his pocket. "My mother let me go," he said. "A mother who had given her youngest child everything she could, and then found the courage to let him walk into the unknown."

Perhaps every Indian mother carries a little of Kaushalya within her, the quiet strength to let her child step away from the safety of home and into his own destiny, he said.

"If my mother gave me my values, my wife Priti has been the keeper of my conscience," Adani said. "When we got married, Priti was a qualified dentist with a promising career ahead of her. Yet she chose a very different path. She stepped away from her profession and in many ways from her own identity to dedicate her life to building the Adani Foundation."

What began as a small initiative has today touched over 10 million lives across 22 states of India spanning education, healthcare, sustainable livelihoods and community development.

"Every evening when I return home after a long day at work, Priti typically has a story waiting. A story about a child whose future has changed. A farmer who now sees hope. A girl who stood up for what she believed in. A family that now has opportunity," he said.

On his daughters-in-law, he said Paridhi (wife of elder son Karan) is "a remarkable lawyer - thoughtful, sharp, and able to engage across an extraordinary range of subjects".

Diva (wife of younger son Jeet) expresses herself in a very different way. "She is one of the most imaginative designers I know, bringing creativity and artistry into everything she creates. But what I admire most is her deep compassion and her commitment to working with the specially-abled, using her creativity to make a real difference in their lives," he said.

Stating that his three granddaughters are "apples of his eye", Adani said their curiosity reminds me how beautifully simple the world looks through the eyes of a child.

"A man can spend his life building ports, airports, power plants and businesses. He can spend decades chasing scale, ambition and progress. But when a granddaughter climbs on to his lap and looks at him with complete trust in her eyes, everything becomes clear," he said.

He went on to thank his mother for giving him the values, wife Priti for being his conscience, daughters-in-law Paridhi and Diva for bringing strength, talent and perspective and granddaughters for reminding every day that the future must be worthy of the next generation.