Adani pitches for self-reliant India

New Delhi, May 26

Back from the WEF at Davos, richest Indian Gautam Adani today said international alliances are built on slippery foundations of self-interest and India needs to step up and strengthen self-reliance across sectors — from vaccination to defence and semiconductors.

“It is clear, in this uncertain time, that there is little alternative to effective, confident self-reliance and that we are now onto this era of self-reliance. As we go through this process, there will be pushbacks — and we will run into controversies in other parts of the world. So be it. Many will try to stop us building semiconductor plants. Many will dissuade us from investing a larger portion of our GDP in defence. Our principles will come under criticism.

“What we must keep in mind is that many of those who set targets for reduction in emissions for India are also those that shy away from acknowledging the disproportionate responsibility borne by a small number of developed countries for the climate crisis. In other words, it is far easier to talk than to walk the talk,” he wrote in a post shared on LinkedIn.

Global cooperation facade

The state of global affairs has forced us to confront the resulting realpolitik directly rather than hide behind a facade of global cooperation. — Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani group