| | NOVEMBER 20238Karan Adani boasted that a recently signed $553 million US government funding arrangement towards a port terminal being created by his family's business was a "reaffirmation by the international community" when standing before Sri Lankan authorities and US diplomats in a five-star hotel in Colombo last week.After a humiliating short-seller campaign and other accusations of corporate fraud this year, the statement was a welcome reprieve for India's Adani Group. It also meant that Washington supported the port empire that Karan's father, billionaire Gautam Adani, held, which would assist reduce China's maritime dominance in the Indian Ocean. Adani is seen as a strong supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Two-thirds of oil shipments and more than one-third of bulk freight traffic worldwide occur in those waterways. Chief investment officer of TCG Asset Management Co. in Mumbai, Chakri Lokapriya, described Adani's port aspirations as a "strategic" move that would help India battle China's network of ports stretching from Pakistan to Sri Lanka.The conglomerate's crown jewel, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., is now pursuing more "opportunities in our neighboring countries", as its CEO, Karan Adani, said to the capital of Sri Lanka. Along with its current developments in Sri Lanka and Israel, these include possible ventures in Bangladesh and East African and Southeast Asian countries, such as Tanzania and Vietnam, he said. Global chief executive Davide Traxler, European luxury luggage company Delsey Paris wants to move 50% of its operations out of Mainland China and into India as a manufacturing hub.Currently contributing 5 percent of the French brand's total income, India is one of its fastest-growing markets. In the following three years, the company wants to treble its sales. "For the next five years, India's economy is one of the ones with the best prospects. While everyone is interested about what will happen in the US and Europe, everyone in India appeared extremely assured. And given the size of the market and people, that is crucial. We definitely want to be more present there, invest more, source more, and buy more raw materials," Traxler remarked.Crisil analysis, despite a high-base effect of 40 percent growth last fiscal year, India's luggage industry revenue is expected to increase by 5 percent this fiscal year. This development may be attributed to the increasing use of hard baggage made by the organised sector, as well as ongoing expansion in business and tourist travel. "There was a lot of concentration in mainland China, but we have moved about 50 percent of production and distributed it to other countries in Southeast Asia and India is part of this rebalancing of our production," explained Traxler.The corporation said that the number of travellers has increased steadily over the previous 30 years and that the number of travellers and their luggage are related. "The company is doing well overall, and India is performing well. India is a part of this trend, as we have more than doubled the turnover in the last two years," the executive stated. According to Traxler, the way that consumers approach luggage purchases has changed. ADANI'S PLANS TO EXPAND ITS EMPIRE OF FOREIGN PORTS WITH USINDIA IS LEADING THE WAY IN DELSEY PARIS MANUFACTURING HUBIN FOCUSIN FOCUS
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