New Delhi: Adani group will set up two new cement manufacturing plants, 15,000 MW of renewable power projects and a data centre in Andhra Pradesh as it looks to double down on its presence in the state, Karan Adani, founder family’s scion, said on Friday.
The apples-to-airport group plans to double the capacity of the two sea ports it operates at Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram in the state, he said at the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit here but did not give investment numbers.
The investments will be on top of the Rs 20,000 crore already invested in the state, which created more than 18,000 direct and 54,000 indirect jobs.
Adani, who is the CEO of the group’s port company Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd and the son of group founder and chairman Gautam Adani, said the group will set up cement plants with total capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum at Kadappa and Nadikudi in the state as well as a 400 MW data centre in Visakhapatnam.
This is the first public appearance from the Adani family in the country since a damning report by a US short-seller caused a USD 140 billion rout in shares of the group’s listed companies.
Senior Adani was a notable absentee at a similar investor summit organised by the Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow last month. Gautam Adani had attended the previous UP investor summit.
Karan Adani said currently, Adani Group operates two largest private ports in Andhra Pradesh – Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram, with a total capacity of 100 million tonnes per annum.
“In the next 5 years, not only do we aim to double this capacity, but also transform these ports into industrial port cities,” he said.
“By developing industrial clusters at Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram and attracting industries, we will be able to reduce the logistics costs drastically, thus making these industries far more competitive globally.” The group is also developing 15,000 MW of renewable power projects over the next few years across five districts of Anantapur, Kadappa, Kurnool, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram.
