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Gautam Adani faces off against Kumar Mangalam Birla over cement in India

Kumar Mangalam Birla comes from old money, unlike Adani, a first-generation entrepreneur

It’s too early to say who will win India’s building-materials war, though one thing is certain: KK Birla won’t take another new challenger lightly. (Photo: Bloomberg)
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It’s too early to say who will win India’s building-materials war, though one thing is certain: Kumar Mangalam Birla won’t take another new challenger lightly. (Photo: Bloomberg)

Andy Mukherjee | Bloomberg
Gautam Adani’s meteoric rise to the world’s ninth-richest person began with a port on India’s west coast in the 1990s and an abiding friendship with a politician who’s now prime minister. The rest has been all about finding the next industry that will make his debt-fueled empire a little bigger.
 
The port brought in coal, liquefied gas and palm oil — and so Adani got into them and adjacent businesses. For example, once he had begun supplying coal to power plants, he entered mining — in India, Indonesia and Australia — and his own electricity generation and distribution.