China firms power rising Indian empire

As the four-seater private jet turns the final arc before touching down at India's largest private port on the tip of the western bulge on the Arabian Sea, rows of giant cranes loom into view, glistening in the mid-morning sun.

Mundra port's container cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co (ZPMC) offer the first glimpse of the Chinese participation in India's most ambitious privately funded infrastructure project comprising the port and a special economic zone.

Apart from the port, the other mainstay of Mumbai-listed Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ) is the world's single largest cluster of private thermal power plants generating 4,620 megawatts (MW) through nine units, entirely powered by Chinese equipment and engineering.

For Gautam Adani, the 51-year-old self-made tycoon and chairman of his eponymous Adani Group that owns APSEZ, all that matter are decent quality, reasonable price and prompt delivery, all of which he finds aplenty in Chinese companies.

"ZPMC offered a price differential of 50 per cent, so we gave it a shot. And then we got hooked, they were so good. In the past 10 years, these cranes have gone from being untouchables to a worldwide share of 75 per cent. That tells you something about Chinese companies," says the portly Adani, whose penchant for risk and audacious leveraging has made his rise one of the most dramatic in the history of Indian business.

Starting out as a small-time commodities trader at 17, Adani has carved out an empire all by himself in a country dominated by towering business dynasties. The soft-spoken, modest first-generation tycoon now runs a conglomerate with US$8.7 billion in annual revenues and 10,400 employees.