Addressing a shareholders meeting of the Adani Group, billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday, 12 July, said that 'India should have done much better' in handling the second wave of COVID-19.
He was quoted as saying, “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,” Indian Express reported.
Moreover, stating India’s population to be greater than the combined population of Europe, North America and Oceania, Adani said that the challenge of vaccinating Indians is far greater.
He further said, “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.”
Claiming the logistics division of the Group to have covered a distance equivalent to travelling twice around the world while delivering cold-stored vaccines across India, Adani thanked the Indian Air Force for carrying out missions in helping the Group bring in essential supplies such as cryogenic tanks, liquid medical oxygen, and oxygen cylinders.
India To Be a $15 Trillion Plus Economy in Two Decades: Adani
The Adani Group chairman also dismissed those questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of India becoming a 5-trillion-dollar economy.
Calling it 'an inconsequential question', Adani said that India will be a 5 trillion-dollar economy and then go on to be a 15 trillion-dollar-plus economy over the next two decades.
He added, “There will be bumps along the road, as has been the case in the past, and is expected to be the case in the future.”
Further, reasoning that several learnings emerge from every pandemic, Adani said, India and the world are wiser as they go through COVID-19.
He was quoted as saying, "India is at the start of a virtuous cycle that is driven by the growth in the middle class population, and our nation today has the longest runway of any country in the world," PTI reported.
166% Increase In Profit
Meanwhile, talking about the Adani Group, he said the performance of the listed firms propelled the Group’s portfolio over $100 billion market capitalisation in first week of the current fiscal, Indian Express reported.
He added, “All Adani stocks generated returns over 100 percent and our businesses ensured that we returned close to Rs 9,500 crore to our equity shareholders. This is a 166 percent increase in profit after tax on a year on year basis."
(With inputs from The Indian Express and PTI)
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