Adani Group to set up two new cement plants, data centre in Andhra Pradesh, says Karan Adani 

Adani Group will set up two new cement manufacturing plants, 15,000 MW of renewable power projects and a data centre in Andhra Pradesh, Karan Adani, the elder son of group founder Gautam Adani, said on Friday. Karan Adani is the CEO of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, a port company of the Adani Group.

Speaking at Andhra Global Investors Summit 2023, Adani said that his group operates two large ports - Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram - in the state with a total capacity of 100 million metric tonnes per annum. "In the next five years, we aim to add another million metric tonnes of capacity and also transform these ports into industrial port cities," he said.

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By developing industrial clusters at Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram, Adani said, the group will be able to reduce the logistics costs drastically, thus making these industries far more competitive globally."

Adani said his group, whose functioning has come under scanner following a damaging report by US-based short seller Hindenburg, 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.

"Our other investments in the state include cement manufacturing units and data centres," he said, adding that presently the conglomerate does not have any cement manufacturing capacity in Andhra Pradesh.

"Hence, as part of our expansion plans, we will be setting up cement plants in Kadapa and Nadikudi with a total capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum," he said.

Last year, Adani Group bought Ambuja and ACC from Swiss cement major Holcim and became the second-largest cement player in India. After the acquisition, Karan Adani was appointed as a non-executive director of Ambuja Cement and as the non-executive chairman of ACC.

Also, Adani Group is working on developing a 400 MW of data centre in Visakhapatnam. "These projects will bring further employment opportunities and demonstrate our commitment to the sustainable growth of the state of Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Gautam Adani-led Adani Group is currently facing the heat in markets following fraud charges by Hindenburg.

While there have been concerns about the group's expansion plan funded by debt, Adani maintains that the balance sheet of its companies is 'very healthy’ and business plans are 'fully funded'.

Karan heads Adani Ports, which also saw a decline in its shares after the scathing report. However, in the last few days, the shares have recovered and are currently trading above Rs 680. Today alone, the shares of Adani Ports jumped nearly 9 per cent.