Gautam Adani’s speech at the 2022 Bengal Global Business Summit

His Excellency Governor of West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar,

Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee Didi,

Esteemed Dignitaries and Officials from the Government of West Bengal

Captains of Industry and My Dear Friends,

Thank you for inviting me to the 2022 Bengal Global Business Summit. It is an honour for me to be here in Kolkata and speaking to you for the very first time.

Bengal has always fascinated me. Perhaps it’s my love for the rivers and the oceans – which is why the Adani Group’s infrastructure journey started with a port on the shores of the Arabian sea.

I have also been fascinated by the fact that some of the greatest civilizations have emerged on the banks of rivers. Be it the Egyptians on the River Nile, or the Chinese on the Yellow River – or our own civilizations – one on the banks of the Indus and the other on the Bengal Delta – all of them were inspired by the rivers that flowed through these civilizations.

Therefore, to draw inspiration, I need to look no further than Bengal. It was over a hundred years ago that the great social reformer Gopalkrishna Gokhale gave us the unforgettable line: “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow.” Bengal indeed helped to shape India.

This is the land of many-many great souls: Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Subhas Chandra Bose, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Sarat Chandra Bose, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee – I could go on and on – the list is as stunning as it is endless. No single state has produced as many giants of nationalism as Bengal has.

However, what is even more stunning but perhaps less well-known outside Bengal is that no state in India has given us as many women freedom fighters as Bengal has. Kalpana Datta, Pritilata Waddedar, Suhasini Ganguly, Bina Das, Kamala Das Gupta, Sucheta Kripalani, Matangini Hazra, Sarojini Naidu – these are just a few of the women of Bengal whose courage has no parallel in our history. These women empowered themselves to define their own destiny – which was making the ultimate sacrifice for a free India.

This is why I am not surprised that, at the biggest of the Pujas, the people of Bengal primarily worship Devis. Indeed, no state represents women empowerment as Bengal does.

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

The legacy of these great women has been continued by you. From the social perspective your flagship scheme ‘Kanya Shree’ that focused on the girl child has been a stunning success. It is not a surprise that this scheme was awarded the highest public service honour by the United Nations. Likewise, the UN award winning ‘Utkorsh Bangla’ program for skill development – and ‘Shobooj Shaathi’ scheme for children to cycle to school – have demonstrated your deep understanding of the needs of the younger segments of our society to whom you have now given a platform to succeed.

No wonder your popularity is unmatched, your charisma remarkable, and the trust your people have in you – unshakeable.

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

Not only is Bengal a delta for the Ganga and the Brahmaputra – it is also the delta for arts, science and thought – and Didi – you are a true manifestation of this great delta of thinkers, poets, writers, designers, and painters.

Therefore, what I am committing to bring to Bengal is the best of the Adani Group – our expertise in infrastructure, our speed of execution, our experience, and our focus on building bigger and better. What I am committing to bring is the technology and scale that will help recalibrate infrastructure in Bengal. What I am committing to bring is the promise that I will live up to the expectations of the people of Bengal.  Let me explain what I mean.

The Adani Group’s investments in Bengal will span world class port infrastructure, state of art data centres and the undersea cables that will connect them across the oceans, centres of excellence in digital innovation, massive fulfilment centres, warehouses and logistics parks, and the continued expansion of Adani Wilmar’s Fortune products, which is already a household name in the state.

All in all, over the next decade, we expect our total investment in Bengal to exceed 10 thousand crore rupees. We anticipate that this investment will create 25,000 or more direct and indirect jobs for the people of Bengal. Thereafter, as we continue to expand here, we will bring into Bengal our world-class expertise across the green energy value chain.

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

In closing let me state that all of us were born to be free spirits – and nothing has inspired me more than two profound lines from Nobel Prize winner Guru Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali:

• Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
• Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

While we might debate if Tagore defined the bold Bengali sprit or if Bengal defined Tagore’s bold spirit, what remains undebatable is the bold spirit that every Bengali carries.

No wonder that the most ferocious yet beautiful of the world’s tigers chose to make Bengal their home.

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

The Adani Group is honoured to be here – to make a difference – and work alongside the people of Bengal.

Thank you / Jai Hind