Gautam Adani's Adani group set to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in expansion of THIS industry across India, bets big on...

The Adani Group is preparing for a massive expansion in its airport business, with plans to invest nearly Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years. Jeet Adani, who heads the airport division of the conglomerate and is also the son of Gautam Adani, shared the details in an interview with The Times of India. At present, the Adani Group operates seven airports in India, including the busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai. Starting October this year, the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will also become part of the group’s portfolio.

According to Jeet Adani, this huge investment will go into infrastructure and real estate development within the airport ecosystem. He added that, for now, there are no plans to expand internationally as India itself offers immense potential. The new investment will follow a five-year rolling plan, with the total capex (capital expenditure) expected to be around Rs 95,000 to Rs 96,000 crore.

A large part of this money will be spent on Mumbai’s current airport and the under-construction Navi Mumbai airport. In fact, the first two phases of NMIA have already been combined, and the airport will open with an initial capacity to handle 2 crore passengers annually. This has been developed with a capex of Rs 19,000 crore. The group has also begun work on the second terminal (T2), which may handle either 3 crore or 5 crore passengers annually depending on final plans, with costs between Rs 30,000 crore and Rs 45,000 crore. Eventually, the Navi Mumbai airport will have a capacity of 9 crore passengers per year, with a total investment reaching Rs 1 lakh crore.

Additionally, a completely new Terminal 1 will be built at Mumbai’s existing airport (CSMIA) by 2032 at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore. Other airports in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, and Lucknow will also see new or expanded terminals in the next four years. A new terminal in Guwahati is ready and will open by October or November. Adani is confident about India’s aviation growth over the next 10 to 15 years. He said 26 airports have already been identified for public-private partnership (PPP) development, which shows the potential for expansion within the country. “Our focus is on growing deeper in India, not abroad,” he said.

The group also plans to fund much of this expansion using its own equity. Jeet Adani said lenders who supported the NMIA project are willing to be involved in the next stage too. He explained that the group believes in investing ahead of time in infrastructure because they’re confident about the economic and aviation growth in Indian cities. Calling himself a big believer in aviation, Adani said the group is not just running airports but working to build the entire ecosystem. He emphasised the need to bring back international passenger traffic that currently goes through Gulf, Southeast Asian and European hubs. Strong partnerships with airlines like IndiGo and the Tata Group (which runs Air India) are part of this long-term strategy.

“We’ve spoken to both and asked them to include us in their planning, and we’ll do the same. It’s about working together to improve India’s aviation sector,” he concluded.