India should have done much better during second wave of Covid: Adani

“So our vaccination effort has to be bigger than the combined efforts of 87 countries…. While I admit that criticism is justifiable, we must not fall prey to voices that demoralise our nation or break the morale of frontline workers who have made extraordinary sacrifices,” he said in his virtual address.

Cautioning people from falling prey to “voices that demoralise our nation”, Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, on Monday said India “should have done much better” while handling the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

In his address to shareholders, Adani said, “We must admit that every life lost, is a tragedy.

Undoubtedly, our country should have done much better, especially during the deadly wave two. However, as nations of the world marshal their resources to fight the pandemic, I see India being targeted by several critics for not doing more to protect its citizens, especially in vaccination.”

Stating that the challenge of vaccinating people in India is far greater compared to other nations, Adani said India has more people than the combined population of Europe, North America and Oceania.

“So our vaccination effort has to be bigger than the combined efforts of 87 countries…. While I admit that criticism is justifiable, we must not fall prey to voices that demoralise our nation or break the morale of frontline workers who have made extraordinary sacrifices,” he said in his virtual address.

Pointing out that the logistics division of the group covered a distance that was equivalent to travelling twice around the world while delivering cold-stored vaccines to different parts of India, he thanked the Indian Air Force for flying countless missions to help the Group bring in essential supplies such as liquid medical oxygen, cryogenic tanks and oxygen cylinders.

The Adani Group boosted the PM Cares Fund, turned Adani Vidya Mandir school in Ahmedabad to a Covid care facility and modified company operated hospitals in Bhuj and Mundra into 100 per cent Covid care hospitals, he added.

Talking about the Adani Group, he said the performance of the listed firms propelled the Group’s portfolio over USD 100 billion market capitalisation in first week of the current fiscal. “This milestone is a first for a first-generation Indian company,” Adani said.

“All Adani stocks generated returns over 100 per cent and our businesses ensured that we returned close to Rs 9,500 crore to our equity shareholders. This is a 166 per cent increase in profit after tax on a year on year basis,” he added.

The Adani Group chairman also said that India was on its way to be a five-trillion dollar economy as it will emerge as one of the largest global markets in terms of consumption size and market cap.
“India will be a five-trillion dollar economy and then go on to be a 15-trillion dollar plus economy, over the next two decades,” Adani added.

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