‘PM Modi, Ambani, Adani reshaping India to become economic superpower’: CNN report

New Delhi: India is poised to become a 21st-century economic powerhouse, offering an alternative to China for investors looking for growth and for reducing supply chain risks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani playing a fundamental role in shaping the economic superpower the country will become in the coming decades, according to a CNN report.

The report says to spur growth, the Modi government has begun a massive infrastructure transformation by spending billions on building roads, ports, airports and railways.

It is also heavily promoting digital connectivity, which can improve both commerce and daily life.

“Both Adani and Ambani have become key allies as the country embarks on this revolution,” it said.

Worth USD 3.7 trillion in 2023, India is the world’s fifth largest economy, jumping four spots in the rankings during PM Modi’s decade in office and leapfrogging the United Kingdom.

“It is comfortably placed to expand at an annual rate of at least 6 per cent in the coming few years, but analysts say the country should be targeting growth of eight per cent or more if it wants to become an economic superpower. Sustained expansion will push India higher up the ranks of the world’s biggest economies, with some observers forecasting the South Asian nation to become number three behind only the US and China by 2027,” CNN analysis said.

Reliance Industries and the Adani Group - the two sprawling conglomerates having valuations worth over USD 200 billion each, have established businesses in sectors ranging from fossil fuels and clean energy to media and technology.

“Investors have been cheering the duo’s ability to adroitly bet on sectors prioritized for development by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently campaigning for his third consecutive term to lead India. The South Asian country is poised to become a 21st-century economic powerhouse, offering a real alternative to China for investors hunting for growth and manufacturers looking to reduce risks in their supply chains,” the report said.

“As a result, these three men — Modi, Ambani and Adani — are playing a fundamental role in shaping the economic superpower India will become in the coming decades,” it added.

The report also pointed out that the kind of power and influence being enjoyed by the two Indian tycoons has been seen before in other countries “experiencing periods of rapid industrialisation.”

It said both Ambani and Adani are often compared by journalists to John D Rockefeller, who became America’s first billionaire during the Gilded Age, a 30-year period in the last decades of the 19th century.

“India is in the middle of something that America and lots of other countries have already gone through. Britain in the 1820s, South Korea in the 1960s and 70s, and you could argue China in the 2000s,” said James Crabtree, the author of The Billionaire Raj, a book about India’s wealthy.

It is “normal” for developing nations to go through such a period of rapid growth, which sees “income accumulation at the very top, rising inequality and lots of crony capitalism,” he added. Mumbai, which is considered India’s financial capital, has the imprint of the two tycoons everywhere, from high-rise apartment buildings branded with Adani Realty to cultural institutions named after the Ambani clan, and even the international airport, which is operated by Adani.

“Some spaces need no names or bright labels, but their affiliations are just as obvious. Everyone in Mumbai knows who lives in Antilia — the personal skyscraper of Ambani and his family, which reportedly cost USD 2 billion to build and boasts a spa, three helipads and a 50-seat theatre. The 27-story building sits on a street dubbed ‘Billionaires’ Row,’ its jutting geometric architecture looming over the neighborhood.”

The CNN report also mentions the grand pre-wedding celebration of Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani in March this year, when billionaires and movie stars from around the world jetted to Jamnagar.

Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Ivanka Trump were among the many high-profile celebrities in attendance. The three-day celebration, which saw performances by popstar Rihanna and magician David Blaine, transfixed India and further underscored Ambani’s growing global clout.

Guido Cozzi, professor of macroeconomics at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, said the these “conglomerates are very, very important and very well connected,” noting that both the Adani Group and Reliance Industries were founded years before Modi came to power.

“They are not typical stagnant monopolistic conglomerates. They are pretty dynamic,” Cozzi said.

Not only are they playing “an important role” in building infrastructure, which helps “growth directly,” but the two business groups are also helping the country expand “indirectly” by boosting connectivity through digital innovation, he explained. (IANS)

Also Read: Four arrested for trafficking Indians to Russia-Ukraine war zone: CBI official

Also Watch: