‘This is the freedom we need to fight for’: Adani warns India’s new age war is for tech and self-reliance

Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, addressed students and faculty at IIT Kharagpur on Monday, warning that India’s modern strategic challenges go far beyond borders. “The battlefield is not just about protecting our nation’s border. It is about securing our technology leadership…so we lead and not just participate as low-cost players in the global race,” he said.

Highlighting India’s vulnerabilities, Adani pointed to critical sectors where dependence on foreign supplies poses risks. “90% of our semiconductors are imported. One disruption or sanction can freeze our digital economy,” he said. On energy security, he noted, “In case of energy vulnerability, we import 85% of our oil. A single geopolitical incident can restrict our growth.” He also stressed the strategic importance of data, warning, “When our data crosses India’s borders, every bit of this data becomes raw material for foreign algorithms.”

Framing self-reliance, or atma nirbharta, as essential for India’s independence in the digital age, Adani described the current era as India’s “second freedom struggle.” He warned that companies and institutions that fail to adapt at the speed and scale of ongoing transformations risk disappearing, while tomorrow’s disruptors could dominate globally.


“The age of transformations now unfolding before us is unlike anything I have seen…In a world of robotics and AI, cost advantages will vanish overnight, and we can quickly lose our ability to compete,” he said. Adani urged students to see themselves as the next generation of freedom fighters, tasked with safeguarding India’s technological and economic leadership.

Reflecting on his own journey, Adani shared lessons from his early entrepreneurial life. At 16, he moved to Mumbai to work in diamond trading, and by 19 he was running his brother’s polymer factory. He recounted how he seized the opportunities of liberalisation in 1991 and later built Adani Enterprises, before expanding into ports, energy, logistics, and airports. Today, the group manages one of the world’s largest integrated logistics networks, India’s largest private energy portfolio, and the country’s largest fleet of airports.

Adani called on academia and industry to collaborate more closely, proposing living laboratories at IIT Kharagpur where students can apply research to high-impact sectors including renewable energy, ports and logistics, and airport and smart mobility solutions. He also announced the annual Adani–IIT Platinum Jubilee Change Makers Fellowship, aimed at channeling top talent into projects that advance national priorities.

He urged students to embrace bold ideas and rapid reinvention, saying, “You are the new freedom fighters of Bharat…Your innovation, your software code, and your ideas are today’s weapons. You will decide whether India takes command of its destiny or surrenders it to others.”

Adani concluded by presenting four principles for building a stronger India: fight as the next generation of freedom fighters, build first for Bharat, fortify national foundations in infrastructure and technology, and march together as one team with academia and industry aligned. “One train takes you to a salary. The other takes you to a legacy. Only one train carries the pride of building Bharat,” he said.

The speech wove history with future ambition, invoking Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri, a 19-year-old freedom fighter imprisoned at the Hijli jail, as a symbol of courage and sacrifice, and inspiring students to embrace innovation as their weapon in India’s modern fight for self-reliance.