Gautam Adani Urges IITians: Choose The Train That Builds Bharat, Be Builders, Not Just Job Seekers!

Opening Address at IIT Kharagpur Bu Gautam Adani

Namaskar!

Distinguished faculty, esteemed guests and my brilliant students of IIT Kharagpur. It is a true honour to join you for this Platinum Jubilee Session.

When the current Director, Dr Suman Chakraborty, and former Director, Dr Partha Chakrabarti, extended me the invitation, I did not even check my calendar. When the nation’s two most brilliant Chakrabartis ask you to be part of such a milestone, the only answer is an immediate and wholehearted “Yes!”

A Ground Steeped in History

My dear friends,

This is my first visit to Kharagpur, and I was deeply moved to learn that this very ground was witness to our nation’s struggle for freedom. It is indeed humbling to stand here, where many of India’s courageous freedom fighters were once imprisoned, some even younger than the students before me today.

One story of an inmate that somehow lingers in my mind is that of Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri, who in 1931, at just 19 years of age, was already a fearless freedom fighter.

Imagine — just 19!

Standing here, I can almost hear his fearless voice still sounding through the walls of the Hijli jail.

ना थमे ना झुके रहे मातृभूमि अमर
गगन गगन गूंजे सदा वन्दे मातरम् का स्वर

That cry of Vande Mataram was more than a slogan.
It was a promise:
A promise sealed in blood and sacrifice.
A promise of India’s unbreakable resolve.
And a promise that freedom would live-on beyond those who gave their lives for us.

The New Struggle: Self-Reliance In The 21st Century

And it is about this meaning of freedom that I wanted to talk to you today.

My dear friends,

In 1947, we broke the chains on our land. Yet in the 21st century, a nation can be independent and still be bound by dependence. Just three days ago, we marked our 79th Independence Day, and it is clear we stand at a major inflection point. The world is moving from conventional wars to technology-driven wars of power, and our ability to prepare will decide our future.

Because…

The wars that we have to fight today are often invisible.
They are fought in server farms, and not in trenches.
The weapons are algorithms, not guns.
The empires are not built on land — they are built in data centres.
The armies are botnets, and not battalions.

The Hidden Chains Of Dependence Explained By Gautam Adani

And here is the uncomfortable truth:

In terms of Technology Dependence, 90% of our semiconductors are imported. One disruption or sanction can freeze our digital economy.

In the case of Energy Vulnerability, we import 85% of our oil. A single geopolitical incident can restrict our growth.

When our Data crosses India’s borders, every bit of this data becomes raw material for foreign algorithms, creates foreign wealth and strengthens foreign dominance.

And in the case of Military Dependence, many of our critical systems are imported, binding our national security to the political will and supply chains of other nations.

This is the freedom we must now fight for — the freedom of self-reliance — the freedom of Atmanirbharta — if we are to be truly free.

Eighty years ago, here in the Hijli jail, young men and women fought for the right to govern our land. That same fight continues — only the weapons have changed.

You Are Today’s Freedom Fighters Says Gautam Adani

And this is what I want every student here to take back.

You are the next generation of freedom fighters.
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.

क्योंकि स्वतंत्रता केवल एक घटना नहीं यह एक निरंतर लड़ाई है
और इस लड़ाई की अंतिम विजय तभी होगी
जब हम हर क्षेत्र में आत्मनिर्भर बनकर अपने भविष्य खुद तय करें

The Technological Tectonic Shift

My dear friends,

I have been an entrepreneur since the age of 16.
I have navigated multiple cycles of disruption, many moments of transformation, and built businesses through both crisis and opportunity.

But I can tell you, with absolute conviction, that the age of transformation now unfolding before us is unlike anything I have seen.

And the battlefield is not just about protecting our nation’s borders.

It is about securing our technology leadership, and ensuring we are able to stay at the forefront of global innovation.

It is about redesigning every business, reimagining every industry, and rewriting every rule of the game — so we lead and not just participate as low-cost players in the global race.

Because, as we all know, in a world of robotics and AI, cost advantages will vanish overnight, and we can quickly lose our ability to compete.

This is not transformation at 1X speed. It is 10X. It is 100X. And it is accelerating towards 1000X, as:

• AI starts to build AI

• LLM start to write LLM

• Robots start to build robots

• Code starts to write code

• Machines start to teach machines, and

• Discoveries start to fuel more discoveries.

And this is why I call it our second freedom struggle!

The world has never seen an industrial and intelligence revolution of this scale.

The Government’s Role And The Corporate Responsibility

Colleges, and the best among them are government-funded. We stand on the shoulders of public institutions like ISRO, BARC, DRDO, ICMR, NCL, and many more. These have given us the inventions, breakthroughs, and discoveries that form our launchpads.

From ISRO’s Chandrayaan to Aadhaar, from UPI to vaccine research, from freight corridors to renewable grids, it is worth reflecting that it is the Government that has built the foundation of our modern economy.

And this model will not adequately sustain in the race we are entering. If India is to lead in the age of transformative technologies — like advanced materials, biotechnology, deep tech, and many others — we must carry our share of the nation’s innovation burden, translated not into marketing slogans, but into budget allocations, world-class laboratories and risk capital. We must provide platforms where young minds can explore, and even fail without fear.

If we corporates do not step up, we will remain users of foreign breakthroughs and never be originators.

This is a future that we cannot accept.

Gautam Adani Suggest: Academia And Industry Must Merge

So, what is a possible path forward?

If speed and scale are the defining challenges of our academic institutions, then the answer lies in blurring the lines between where education ends and where enterprise begins.

In the industrial era, institutions and corporates operated in parallel lanes. Academia produced graduates; industry consumed them.

In the world we have now entered, victory will most often belong to the owners of IP, and nations will weaponize this IP by governments controlling the IP distribution.

Therefore, we must master partnerships that unite diverse stakeholders, enable seamless talent flow between labs and industry, and embed IP-sharing and funding models that reward both groundbreaking research and rapid commercialization.

And there are many examples to learn from:

• In Silicon Valley, Stanford’s deep ties with venture capital and industry have seeded tech companies, from Google to Tesla, with startups and academia feeding each other’s growth.

• In the case of Biotech Synergy, the Boston–Cambridge cluster saw Moderna and its vaccines emerge directly from MIT and Harvard labs, which was then accelerated by corporate funding.

Therefore:
Universities must push the boundaries of research and corporates must push the boundaries of execution.

Universities must focus on breakthroughs and corporates must focus on scaling the breakthroughs.

And together, we must create impact, not just in markets but in the very fabric of our own Indian society.

Adani’s Strategic Partnerships with IIT Kharagpur

And so, let me propose some ideas.

Together, we will create living laboratories, here at IIT Kharagpur, across high-impact sectors that reflect the very challenges India must lead in.

1. First is Renewable Energy.
   By 2030, India aims to lead the world in renewables. At Adani, we are building the world’s largest renewable energy park in Khavda in the Kutch district of Gujarat. 30 GW of capacity, across 500 square kilometres. Imagine IIT KGP students co-developing AI-driven grid-balancing solutions, real-time predictive maintenance, and sector-wide optimization tools.
2. Second is Ports & Logistics.
   Adani Ports moves over 400 million tonnes of cargo annually. As the world’s most integrated logistics player, even a single day’s delay can ripple through supply chains. IIT KGP talent can design Machine Learning led berth scheduling, autonomous container handling, and real-time logistics optimization systems.
3. Third is Airport & Smart Mobility.
   Adani Airports handles 100 million passengers a year across seven of India’s busiest hubs. This complex ecosystem spans transport, security, energy, and passenger

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