At IIT Kharagpur, Gautam Adani discusses Atmanirbharta, unseen warfare, and renewable energy.

Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group, told students at the 75th Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur that self-reliance, AI, and renewable energy are the keys to India’s future while also sharing personal lessons.

At IIT Kharagpur’s 75th Foundation Day, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani transformed into a motivator, strategist, and storyteller. He told academics, students, and alumni that India was on course to become the global leader in renewable energy in five years.

“We are building the world’s largest renewable energy park in Khavda in Gujarat’s Kutch district — 30 GW capacity spread across 500 sq km,” he told the gathering.

In order to become India the world leader in clean energy by 2030, he invited IIT Kharagpur students to envision working together to co-develop AI-driven grid-balancing solutions, real-time predictive maintenance, and sector-wide optimization tools.

FELLOWSHIP TO CHANNEL TOP TALENT

Adani established the Adani-IIT Platinum Jubilee Change Makers Fellowship to enhance cooperation.

“Its mission is to channel the nation’s top talents into high-impact projects that advance national priorities. This framework creates a playbook for any major corporate to partner effectively with a top institution,” he said.

Such collaborations, he continued, have the potential to transform India’s talent pool into a force that “can be a parallel to Silicon Valley in ten years.”

TECHNOLOGY AND INVISIBLE WARS

Adani cautioned that traditional warfare were giving way to technologically driven conflicts worldwide.

“The wars that we have to fight today are often invisible. They are fought in server farms, and not in trenches. The weapons are algorithms, not guns. The empires are not built on land — they are built in data centres. The armies are botnets, and not battalions.”

He emphasized India’s vulnerability, pointing out that 85% of its oil and 90% of its semiconductors are imported. He emphasized the need of data sovereignty and energy security, saying, “A single geopolitical incident can restrict our growth.”

SALARY OVER LEGACY

Adani encouraged pupils to think beyond occupations in a motivational turn.

“You go to a salary on one train. The other transports you to a historical site. And the prestige of creating Bharat is carried by only one train,” he remarked.

He recalled leaving Ahmedabad for Mumbai at 16, driven only by conviction in his future. Adani urged students to embrace independence or Atmanirbharta as the genuine definition of freedom and to be “the new freedom fighters of Bharat.”

The necessity of innovation

“If we corporates do not step up, we will remain users of foreign breakthroughs and never be originators,” Adani acknowledged, acknowledging that corporates must also take the initiative. There is no way we can accept this future.

He announced living laboratories for IIT students to test their ideas in the areas of airports, logistics, and renewable energy. He cited his projects, which included India’s largest airport network, Mundra Port, and the Khavda Renewable Park, asserting that they were the result of both entrepreneurship and hope for the “unstoppable India growth story.”

“Be the new freedom fighters of Bharat, build first for Bharat, fortify our foundations, and march as one team for Bharat,” Adani concluded his speech, leaving the audience with four obvious conclusions.

(With assistance from the agency)