COVER STORY
30 years of Adani Foundation: An Enduring Commitment to ‘Seva’
Juhi Chakraborty & Glory Dwarkesh
From its humble beginnings in Mundra to a nationwide movement touching more than 13 million lives, the Adani Foundation’s three-decade journey has been shaped by one enduring belief: that service is not an act, but a way of life.
On 8 May 1996, in the coastal town of Mundra, a journey began that would, over the next three decades, blossom into a significant grassroots development movement across India. It was on this day that Group Chairman Gautam Adani founded the Shri Shantilal Bhudarmal Adani Charitable Trust to commemorate his late father, Shri Shantilal Bhudarmal Adani, and to carry forward his legacy of unwavering dedication to serving communities.
Inspired by his father’s value system and guided by the quiet strength of his mother, Smt Shantaba, the Trust found its moral compass in a simple yet profound motto: Serve Better At All Times. It was a philosophy rooted in the conviction that service is not defined by the scale of an intervention, but by the sincerity with which one responds to the needs of others.
In August 1998, Dr Priti G Adani, a physician driven by a commitment to public service, further solidified this vision. She channelled the spirit of 'seva' (service) envisioned by Shri Shantilal and Smt Shantaba into a more focused and enduring framework. In the subsequent years, the Trust expanded its scope to include critical sectors for community development, such as medical care, education, nutrition, livelihoods, water, and infrastructure.
The aim was not merely to assist, but to help bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots by creating pathways to dignity, opportunity and greater self-reliance.
In 2006, the Shri Shantilal Bhudarmal Adani Charitable Trust transitioned into the Adani Foundation, broadening its vision towards holistic community development and aligning its work with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). What had begun as a commitment to serve communities in and around Mundra was gradually evolving into a far-reaching journey of social development — one that would, over the next 30 years, extend across geographies, programmes and generations, while remaining anchored in the same enduring belief that first set it in motion: Serve Better At All Times.
30 YEARS AT A GLANCE
1996
A Purpose Takes Root
Shri Shantilal Bhudarmal Adani Charitable Trust was established, laying the foundation for a journey of social impact.
1997-98
The First Steps
Began community initiatives in education and healthcare, responding to local needs.
1999
Healthcare On Wheels
Mobile Medical Unit and mega health camp in Zarpara village brought essential services closer to communities in Mundra.
2000
Learning Begins Early
Opened a playgroup in Baroi, nurturing young minds from the grassroots.
2001
Standing Strong with Kutch
Responded to the Gujarat earthquake with large-scale relief and rehabilitation. Same year, established the Foundation's first school, Adani Public School in Mundra, which also became the first english-medium CBSE school in the region.
2002
Water For Tomorrow
Built Shanti Sarovar and feeder canal, stregnthening water security for Zarpara village.
2003-04
Rebuilding Lives
Supported disaster-affected communities through rehabilitation efforts and flood relief in Bharuch, Gujarat.
2005-06
Investing In Rural Infrastructure
Constructed check dams, rejuvenated ponds, and expanded classrooms to improve rural resilience.
2006
A New Identity
SBAT became the Adani Foundation, marking the beginning of a larger vision for nation building.
2008
Education Without Barriers
Established Adani Vidya Mandir, Ahmedabad, offering free quality education to deserving students.
2009
Transforming Healthcare
Launcehd GAIMS (Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences) in Bhuj through India's first-of-its-kind PPP partnership between government and private company.
2010
Udaan Takes Flight
Launched initiaitve to foster ambition among youths.
2011
Healthy Ageing
Introduced the Senior Citizen Health Card, ensuring dedicated healthcare for the elderly in Mundra.
2012
Expanding Educational Horizons
Adani Vidya Mandir, Bhadreshwar, Gujarat and a new school in Kawai, Rajasthan widened access to quality education.
2013
Nature And Livelihood Together
Launched mangrove restoration in Mundra, Gujarat, and introduced sustainable farming practices in Tiroda, Maharashtra.
2014
Building Skills, Building Futures
First Skill Development Centre was set-up in Mundra, and new schools in Kawai (Rajasthan) and Tirora (Maharashtra) prepared youth for emerging opportunities.
2015
Education Reaches Further
Navchetan Vidyalaya extended the Foundation's education footprint in Junagam.
2016
A Year Of Flagship Initiatives
Launched Project SuPoshan and Utthan to tackle nutrition and education as well as scaled skilling initiative through Adani SAKSHAM.
2017
Compassion In Crisis
Supported communities during Banaskantha floods and Cyclone Ockhi while pioneering vocational training in Surguja, Chhattisgarh.
2018
The Digital Learning Leap
Gynanodaya introduced smart classrooms as the Foundation continued disaster relief during Kerala floods and initiated the work of Kunjed Biodiversity Park in Kawai, Rajasthan.
2019
Women Lead The Change
Enabled women entrepreneurs through VIZMART and promoted collective prosperity with a Women Farmer Producer Company.
2020
Established Adani Vidya Mandir in Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
2021
Utthan started in Mumbai.
2022
The cement business was acquired by the Adani Group, marking Adani Foundation's entry into the cement sites pan India. Started with 17 sites. As of today, the operation is spread to 46 sites.
2022
Saksham crossed 1 lakh youth skilling.
2022
Reached out to victims of Morbi bridge tragedy.
2023
Adani Foundation came forward to help & support train accident victims of Odisha train tragedy.
2023
Adani Foundation took over the management of 27 schools across the cement business locations.
2024
Announced Adani Health City (two 1,000-bed hospitals in Mumbai and Ahmedabad; total investment Rs. 60,000 crores); Adani Family committed Rs 2,000 crores to provide quality education at affordable cost
2020
Anuradha Dairy was established by the Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) with support from the Adani Foundation at Tiroda.
2025
Adani Mangal Seva
Jeet Adani and Diva Adani pledged INR 10 lakh to support 500 specially-abled, newlywed women every year.
2025
Answered a Higher Calling
Served devotees during the Maha Kumbh Mela (Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh) and Jagannath Yatra (Puri, Odisha).
2025
AVPN Global Conference
Dr Priti G Adani represented the Adani Group’s philanthropic vision at the AVPN Global Conference in Hong Kong (1,500+ delegates from 50 countries), emphasizing the Foundation’s commitment to social investment.
2025
STEM Schools of Excellence
Six Adani schools in Ahmedabad, Mundra, and Mumbai received recognition through collaboration with Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE) and Temasek Foundation (teacher training).
2025
Utthan
improved foundational literacy and numeracy in government primary schools; expanded from 82 schools to all 947 BMC schools, benefiting 1.4 lakh+ students in Mumbai.
2025
Launched SuPoshan in Sonbhadra, Uttar Prades.h
2025
DMIHER collaboration
Partnership with Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (two medical colleges with 250 UG seats each; 100–150 PG seats; 15 allied healthcare colleges).
2026
Swabhimaan Initiative announced (women empowerment): target 1 million women entrepreneurs; Phase 1 in Maharashtra to support 100,000 women in micro-enterprise development.
2026
Opened Adani Vikas Kendra in Shivpuri district, MP, to help women access steady income closer to home by linking skills with work opportunities.
2026
Adani Public School, Mundra, celebrated 25 years of purpose and possibility.
2026
Adani Foundation and Anushkaa Foundation Partner to Support 10,000+ Children with Clubfoot Across Five States. The three-year partnership will support treatment and follow-up care for more than 10,000 children affected by clubfoot across Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. The programme will support 67 clubfoot clinics across 61 districts, strengthening clinical capacity and expanding access to quality care.
2026
The Adani Foundation announced a landmark rural vision care initiative in Bihar with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Adani Centre for Eye and Adani Training in Ophthalmic Medicine at Mastichak, around 70 kilometres from Patna. Supported by a ₹150-crore commitment, the initiative will build annual capacity for 3.3 lakh eye surgeries and train 1,000 eye health professionals every year. The announcement also includes an additional ₹500-crore commitment and the creation of the Adani Akhand Jyoti Foundation to scale affordable vision care and community healthcare across underserved regions of India.
From Mundra to Grassroots India
From its humble beginnings in Mundra, the Adani Foundation has expanded its footprint across more than 7,200 villages in 22 states of India. Over the years, collective efforts have positively touched the lives of more than 13 million Indians.
At the heart of this journey is a philosophy of service that has remained constant even as the scale of the work has grown. Guided by the principles and values of late Shri Shantilal Adani, and by Chairman Gautam Adani’s philosophy— “Seva Saadhna Hai, Seva Prarthana Hai, aur Seva Hi Parmatma Hai” — the Foundation continues to work towards enabling equity, empathy and empowerment in grassroots India.
In the first decade of the 21st century, while the Adani Group was consolidating and expanding its operations across sectors, the Adani Foundation was strengthening a different kind of foundation: one dedicated to education, nutrition, healthcare and the overall upliftment of communities.
Today, the Foundation's greatest strength lies in an integrated approach to development. Rather than addressing challenges in isolation, the Foundation works alongside communities across different stages of life.
A child needs nutrition to grow. A healthy child learns better. Education creates pathways to opportunity and a better future. Skills and livelihoods strengthen families. Healthcare protects dignity. Strong communities become more resilient in times of crisis.
Each programme, when woven together, forms part of a larger ecosystem to build stronger, more resilient communities.
THE LIFECYCLE OF DEVELOPMENT
NUTRITION
Healthy beginnings
EDUCATION
Learning and opportunity
SKILLS
Future-ready capabilities
LIVELIHOODS
Income and economic security
HEALTHCARE
Care, dignity and well-being
COMMUNITY
Resilience, participation and empowerment
One integrated approach. Multiple pathways to a better life.
Where Service Became Action
The Foundation’s early years were marked by interventions that responded directly to the issues faced by local communities residing in and around Mundra. Dr Priti Adani’s vision for creating lasting change began in classrooms.
Her simple belief remains: that education should be accessible and affordable — not only to empower individuals, but also to strengthen families and communities. In 1999, the Trust supported students across 12 government schools in Mundra and neighbouring villages by providing essential educational materials.
For children from Dhaneti, Bhuj and surrounding villages attending Vivekanand Vidyalaya, education came with a daily challenge. The school was the only high school within a 15-kilometre radius. In June 1999, the Trust donated a school bus to Vivekanand Vidyalaya.
Within a month, more than 60 students were using the service. A simple intervention helped remove a significant barrier to education.
Healthcare was another immediate need. For many families in Mundra, timely access to quality medical care remained out of reach. In December 1998, the Trust introduced a Dispensary on Wheels, taking essential healthcare services directly to communities.
On 26 September 1999, the Trust organised its first free health check-up camp in Zarpara village, Mundra. More than 800 residents from 23 villages, including Kandla, Mandvi and Deshalpar, attended the camp. For many, it was their first opportunity to access quality healthcare.
The Foundation’s early community development work also responded to the region’s water challenges.
In Zarpara village, declining groundwater levels and increasing salinity had made access to fresh water and irrigation increasingly difficult. To address the problem, the Trust constructed a 700-metre-long feeder canal connecting the Kapuria stream to the Shanti Sarovar Reservoir.
The canal was 6 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. It was designed to harvest rainwater, recharge nearby wells, improve water quality and support lift irrigation across nearly 600 to 800 acres of farmland.
The Trust continued to expand its community development efforts through initiatives like water tanks and canals, support for community kitchens and old age homes, and other interventions that improved living conditions and enhanced community wellbeing.
When the Earthquake Struck
On the morning of 26 January 2001, a devastating earthquake struck Bhuj and large parts of Kutch. In a matter of moments, thousands of families lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods. Communities across the region were left in urgent need of support.
Standing by the local communities in their hour of need, the Trust swiftly swung into action. Control rooms were set up in Ahmedabad, Bhuj and Mundra to coordinate the delivery of shelter, food, drinking water, medical care and other essential services. The Foundation reached out to more than 10,000 people every day - from relief and rescue in the initial days, to food and healthcare in the subsequent months.
From deploying ambulances, JCB machines, hydra cranes, loaders, excavators, gas-cutting machines and dumpers to support rescue operations and the early stages of recovery, the Foundation co-ordinated supplies of relief materials to Bhuj, Gandhidham, Anjar, Bhachau, Mundra, Halvad and Sankleshwar.
The earthquake was a moment of immense devastation. It was also a moment that reinforced a defining principle of the Foundation’s commitment: when communities face their greatest adversities, service is provided with empathy and urgency.
Education: Opening Doors to Possibilities
The Adani Foundation firmly believes that every student - irrespective of his/her socio-economic background - deserves the opportunity to learn. The Foundation began its foray in the education sector in 2000 with a modest playgroup school in Baroi, Mundra.
Located near the Adani Baroi Colony, the school welcomed children from the local community as well as families of Adani Group employees. Two years later, the school merged with Adani DAV Public School in Nanakapaya village.
The Trust established its first full-fledged school in Bhuj in June 2001. Beginning with classes up to Class VIII, the school steadily expanded. By FY 2006-07, it offered both Science and Commerce streams up to Class XII under the CBSE curriculum.
In 2009, the Foundation established its flagship school, Adani Vidya Mandir Ahmedabad. The school was founded on the belief that every child deserves access to quality education, regardless of socio-economic circumstances.
Inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, Adani Vidya Mandir provides education free of cost to children from underserved communities. Today, four Adani Vidya Mandir schools are operating in Ahmedabad and Bhadreshwar in Gujarat, Surguja in Chhattisgarh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Together, they empower students through value-based education.
The Foundation’s education network now comprises:
41+
Schools
30,000+
Students empowered
Through integrated digital learning platforms and AI-enabled education, delivered in collaboration with leading education partners, these institutions continue to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.
Project Udaan: Dreams Need a View of the World
Launched in 2010, Project Udaan was inspired by the life-changing story of Group Chairman Gautam Adani. As a child, he visited Kandla Port with his father.
Inspired by its vastness, he dreamt of having his own port one day. The rest, as they say, is history.
Project Udaan seeks to foster ambition among young people by organising carefully curated visits to Adani Group facilities. Students have visited airports, ports, power plants, solar parks, wind farms, oil refineries, cement plants, defence facilities and other Adani Group businesses.
The aim is to give young people first-hand exposure to the scale of large-scale business operations and to expand their understanding of what is possible. In 2025, Project Udaan crossed a significant milestone, with more than 5 lakh young people visiting Adani Group facilities.
So far:
6.5 lakh+
Students have visited Adani Group facilities
10,000+
Exposure visits organised
Project Utthan: Building the Foundations of Learning
Project Utthan was launched in 2016 with an aim to strengthen Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) of students studying in government schools. The programme is aligned with the National Education Policy 2020 and the NIPUN Bharat Mission.
While Adani Competitive Coaching Centres prepare students for competitive examinations, Adani Evening Education Centres provide additional academic support to improve board examination performance.
Today, Project Utthan reaches:
1.7 lakh+
Students
1,200+
Schools
In 2025, the programme expanded significantly through a partnership with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, extending its reach to all 947 BMC schools and more than 1.47 lakh students across Mumbai.
The Classroom of the Future
To nurture curiosity, innovation and critical thinking, the Foundation partnered with Singapore’s National Institute of Education in 2023, supported by Temasek Foundation, to develop a STEM curriculum aligned with the National Education Policy 2020.
Through hands-on, inquiry-led learning, students are encouraged to explore, experiment and solve real-world problems. Today, six Adani Schools have been recognised as STEM Schools of Excellence.
The Foundation has also partnered with GEMS Education to establish more than 20 world-class affordable schools across India. The first school opened in Lucknow in 2025.
Thirty per cent of CBSE seats are reserved free of cost for children from underprivileged families, further strengthening the Foundation’s commitment to inclusive, quality education.
Health & Nutrition: Taking Care Closer
For many families living in remote parts of India, quality healthcare was often a distant reality. A routine consultation could mean travelling long distances. An emergency left little time to spare.
Recognising that timely care could change outcomes — and often save lives — the Adani Foundation began taking healthcare closer to the communities that needed it most.
What started with a few early initiatives gradually grew into a healthcare ecosystem spanning preventive care, medical outreach, hospitals and emergency response.
The Adani Foundation’s Mobile Healthcare Units play a pivotal role in bringing primary healthcare services to underserved and remote communities.
By delivering consultations, essential medicines and basic diagnostic support directly to communities, they address critical access gaps in areas with limited healthcare infrastructure.
Where advanced treatment is required, patients are referred to nearby healthcare facilities.
Today, the Foundation operates a fleet of 22 MHCUs across the country – taking essential and timely healthcare to communities residing in the remotest of regions.
Rural clinics, health and awareness camps strengthen primary healthcare at the grassroots level by providing medical consultations, treatment, health education and referral services, while promoting preventive healthcare and healthier lifestyles.
Together, these interventions continue to bring affordable, quality healthcare closer to remote and underserved communities.
Adani Foundation’s Eyecare Programme
The Adani Foundation launched its eyecare programme in August 2024. Aligned with the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment, the programme caters specifically to school-going children, women, elderly citizens as well as taxi and truck drivers. As part of the initiative, free eye screenings are conducted and free spectacles distributed while also facilitating referrals as needed. So far, more than 1.92 lakh screenings have been conducted.
Furthering this commitment, Chairman Gautam Adani and Dr Priti Adani recently launched a landmark rural vision care initiative in Mastichak, Bihar. With a commitment of Rs 150 crore, the Adani Foundation will support the development of the Adani Centre for Eye (ACE) and Adani Training in Ophthalmic Medicine (ATOM) in partnership with the Akhand Jyoti Foundation. The initiative aims to expand affordable eye care, strengthen rural outreach and build a skilled eye healthcare workforce. It is expected to facilitate 3.3 lakh eye surgeries annually and train 1,000 eye health professionals, restoring sight, dignity and hope to underserved communities. The Chairman also announced a personal commitment of Rs 500 crore towards the newly formed Adani Akhand Jyoti Foundation, which will help expand affordable vision care and community healthcare beyond Bihar into underserved regions across India.
Project SuPoshan: Nutrition That Begins at the Grassroots
In 2016, the Adani Foundation launched Project SuPoshan to tackle a silent, often overlooked crisis at the grassroots level: maternal anaemia. Recognising that the health of a newborn is deeply tied to the mother, the initiative was introduced to break the cycle of weakness and undernourishment in infants. Today, Project SuPoshan works in close alignment with the Government of India’s Poshan Abhiyaan to nurture healthier mothers and stronger futures.
This program had a clear and focused objective -- to improve the health and nutrition of young girls and women of reproductive age, while also curbing malnutrition in children under five.
At the heart of the programme are SuPoshan Sanginis. These trained village-level volunteers educate families, conduct nutrition screenings, provide personalised counselling and encourage healthier practices among families. The objective is simple but far-reaching: stronger nutrition today can create healthier communities tomorrow.
Till now, more than 93,000 undernourished children have transitioned into the ‘healthy’ category.
Adani Hospitals: Building a Healthcare Ecosystem
In 2009, the Foundation established the Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences (GAIMS) in Bhuj—the first Public-Private Partnership between the Government of Gujarat and the Adani Education & Research Foundation.
Today, GAIMS remains Kutch’s only medical college and multi-speciality hospital. It has:
790
Beds
14
Operation theatres
Advanced radiology facilities
150
Undergraduate seats
14
Postgraduate seats
The Foundation further strengthens access to quality healthcare through Adani Hospitals in Bhuj, Mundra and Kodinar.
The next phase of this journey includes Adani Health Cities coming up in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, along with a multi-speciality hospital in Roha, Maharashtra. These integrated healthcare campuses will bring together advanced medical care, education and research.
The Roha hospital is expected to serve more than 50,000 people. The Foundation has also strengthened its healthcare and education mission through a strategic collaboration with the Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (DMIHER).
DMIHER operates two medical colleges in Wardha and Nagpur, each offering 250 undergraduate and 100–150 postgraduate seats, along with 15 allied health sciences colleges and five hospitals with a combined capacity o
When the Nation Needed Care
While the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, the Adani Foundation responded swiftly to strengthen the nation’s healthcare response. The Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhuj was converted into a dedicated COVID hospital with 800 oxygen-supported beds.
Mundra Adani Hospital expanded its services with a CT scan facility. COVID care facilities were established in Noida and Krishnapatnam. In Ahmedabad, Adani Vidya Mandir was transformed into the AVM COVID Care Centre. The transformation from Vidyadaan to Jeevandaan was completed in just four days.
The centre treated more than 150 patients and helped ease the burden on the city’s healthcare infrastructure with more than 200 beds and a dedicated medical oxygen supply system.
The Adani Group also brought 51 cryogenic tankers, capable of transporting 840 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, to strengthen the country’s oxygen supply chain.
The Foundation mobilised resources to support the national response.
COVID-19 RESPONSE
800
Oxygen-supported beds at GAIMS, Bhuj
51
Cryogenic tankers mobilised
840 tonnes
Liquid medical oxygen transport capacity
4 days
To build the AVM COVID Care Centre
200+ beds
At the AVM COVID Care Centre
Sustainable Livelihoods and Farming with Greater Resilience
A sustainable livelihood is more than an income. It is stability. It is resilience. It is the ability to plan for the future. The Adani Foundation’s livelihood interventions focus on strengthening the economic foundations of families and communities.
For the past several years, the Adani Foundation has been at the forefront of promoting sustainable agricultural practices. These interventions play a key role in enhancing productivity and creating sustainable livelihoods for farmers. Through drip and lift irrigation, the Foundation enables farmers to maximise water-use efficiency, resulting in higher crop yields even in water-scarce regions. The Foundation also promotes eco-friendly practices such as crop rotation, composting, the use of green manures and biological pest control. These methods improve soil fertility, reduce dependence on chemical inputs and lower the environmental footprint of farming.
Increased productivity has translated into improved incomes and greater financial stability for farming households.
The Adani Foundation’s efforts have also empowered dairy farmers. Over time, as the Foundation’s water conservation initiatives - particularly in water-scarce regions like Kawai (Rajasthan) and Tiroda (Maharashtra)- intensified, water availability improved. Agricultural activities became more viable, crop production increased, and livestock could be kept with greater confidence. The Foundation focused on enhancing cattle health along with cattle breed improvement through Artificial Insemination (AI), conducting periodic cattle health camps and awareness sessions – making the cattle owners more secured. This positively impacted milk production: excess milk meant greater sales and more incomes for dairy families.
Progressively, the Adani Foundation also started to build an ecosystem for better dairy management by setting up milk collection centres run by local women. This directly improved their socio-economic well-being and promoted greater self-reliance among women.
Women's Empowerment: The Economy of Possibility
The Adani Foundation has long advocated for women’s empowerment by strengthening their skills, enterprise development and income generation at the grassroots. Through training in areas such as mushroom cultivation, tailoring, farming, handicrafts and bamboo artistry, women were enabled to build sustainable, entrepreneurship-led livelihoods.
With over 21,000 women engaged across geographies, the Foundation’s efforts are fostering financial independence, leadership and collective progress while contributing to more inclusive and resilient local economies.
The approach combines:
- Skill training
- Technical and non-technical
- Enterprise development
- Building businesses and income streams
- Market facilitation
Connecting women to opportunity
Through its flagship initiative, Swabhimaan, the Foundation is committed to enabling more than 10 lakh women entrepreneurs across India.
In Mumbai alone, Swabhimaan has supported more than 4,000 women through self-help groups, governance training, financial literacy and livelihood skills.
- 200+ women have become Lakhpati Didis
- 35% have transitioned into entrepreneurship
- 78% now manage their own businesses
Saksham: Skills for a Changing World
Adani SAKSHAM is closely aligned with the Government’s Skill India Mission. The initiative aims to build a skilled, self-reliant workforce capable of driving national growth. Through a blend of offline and online training modules, the programme reaches learners across diverse sectors.
Its future-ready technology courses include:
- AR-based welding simulators
- Physical crane operator simulators
- Drone training
- Metaverse-based virtual courses
- Foundational Artificial Intelligence programmes
The objective is to equip young people with capabilities that meet the evolving demands of the modern job market.
Over the past decade, SAKSHAM has already trained more than 2 lakh youths across India with more than 68% livelihood conversion rate.
Project Sathwaro: Keeping Craft Alive
Launched in 2022, Project Sathwaro celebrates India’s rich craft heritage while creating sustainable livelihoods for artisans. It represents the belief that preserving tradition and creating economic opportunity can go hand in hand.
Climate Action: Restoring the Future
The Adani Foundation’s commitment to community development is inseparable from its commitment to the environment. Across water-scarce regions and beyond, the Foundation works with communities to restore and manage local water resources.
It promotes pond rejuvenation, rooftop rainwater harvesting structures and efficient irrigation practices such as drip irrigation.
Over the years, these initiatives have created an additional 16.45 billion litres of water storage capacity through the construction and renovation of more than 1,700 water structures.
Through large-scale plantation drives and the development of green spaces, the Foundation is restoring degraded landscapes, conserving soil and improving local ecosystems. Its flagship afforestation initiative, Adani Van, reflects a people-centric approach to expanding green cover.
Local communities actively participate in planting, nurturing and maintaining saplings, creating vital green corridors.
To date:
- Nearly 2.3 million saplings planted
- 65+ Adani Van established
Mangroves protect shorelines, store carbon and support rich marine biodiversity.
Recognising their ecological importance, the Foundation has undertaken sustained mangrove plantation across Mundra and other coastal regions.
Since 2011, nearly 8.4 lakh mangrove saplings have been planted and approximately 162 hectares of land covered. Areas such as the Luni coastal belt in Mundra have been transformed into thriving mangrove forests. These restored ecosystems now support diverse marine species, including mudskippers, crabs, catfish and molluscs.
The Mangrove Biodiversity Park further strengthens conservation, habitat restoration and environmental awareness.
Community participation lies at the heart of this journey. Local fishing communities actively contribute to mangrove nursery development, plantation and maintenance, particularly during the off-fishing season.
Community Development: Building Places to Belong
Community development has been at the heart of the Adani Foundation’s journey since its inception. What began as need-based intervention gradually evolved into a participatory model shaped by the realities communities face every day.
Recognising the needs of fishing communities in its early years, the Foundation upgraded essential infrastructure, including resurfacing the 1.8-kilometre road at the Old Port Settlement.
The intervention improved connectivity for fisherfolk and eased access to their workplaces.
Over time, these efforts expanded to include cement concrete roads, gardens in Nana Kapaya, Mota Kapaya and Borana villages, and infrastructure support for institutions such as ITI Mundra and ITI Banaskantha.
The impact of such interventions extends beyond physical assets. Roads connect villages to schools, hospitals and markets. Reliable water systems improve community wellbeing.
Community spaces and public infrastructure create safer, more connected and inclusive places to live.
For many eligible individuals and families, accessing government welfare schemes can be difficult. Documentation, applications and formal systems can create barriers.
The Foundation’s ‘Meri Sangini, Meri Margdarshika’ initiative bridges this last-mile gap. Village-level women volunteers, known as Sanginis, guide eligible individuals/ families through application processes, assist with documentation and help them navigate formal systems to avail the government’s welfare schemes. In doing so, they help connect people to the support they are entitled to receive.
Service with Dignity
Ahead of their wedding in February 2025, Jeet Adani and Diva Shah announced Adani Mangal Seva. Rooted in the Chairman’s philosophy of ‘Seva hi Sadhana hai’, the initiative supports 500 newlywed specially-abled women every year.
Each beneficiary receives INR 10 lakh fixed deposit. The initiative provides a steady monthly income while ensuring long-term financial security through access to the principal amount after 10 years. In February 2026, the initiative fulfilled its first-year commitment by supporting 500 women.
Since 2014, the Adani Foundation has made significant strides through comprehensive initiatives focused on fostering self-reliance for specially abled individuals.
These efforts include:
- Skill enhancement
- Livelihood generation
- Educational support
- Essential aid
In FY 2024-25, the Foundation expanded its partnership with the Government of Gujarat to empower more than 7,000 specially-abled individuals through skill training, educational support, job placements and entrepreneurship opportunities.
A strategic collaboration with Mitti Café, a social enterprise that employs individuals with disabilities, has led to the expansion of accessible retail outlets at major airports, including Mumbai and Lucknow.
The Foundation also supports innovative mobility solutions, such as battery-operated devices developed by IIT Madras’ start-up NeoMotion, helping provide greater independence and dignity to people with disabilities.
Sports: Unlocking Grassroots Potential
The Adani Foundation is creating opportunities for youths at the grassroots level to discover, unlock, and realize their sports potential.
From supporting talented athletes through the ‘Garv Hai’ initiative to encouraging community participation through tournaments, sports infrastructure and access to quality sporting resources, the Foundation is strengthening the sporting ecosystem across its areas of operation.
The belief is simple: Talent can come from anywhere, opportunity should too.
Answering a Higher Calling
In 2025, the Foundation embraced a higher calling by bringing the spirit of seva to millions of devotees during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj and the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Puri.
Guided by this philosophy, members of the Adani Family and more than 5,000 Adani Group employees came together to serve with humility and devotion.
In partnership with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, free meals were served throughout the 45-day Maha Kumbh Mela.
One crore copies of Aarti Sangrah were distributed in collaboration with Gita Press.
Battery-operated green golf carts were deployed to assist elderly devotees, persons with disabilities and mothers with young children.
During the nine-day Rath Yatra, the Foundation’s Prasad Seva reached lakhs of devotees and frontline workers with clean, nutritious meals served free of cost.
For the Foundation, seva is not limited by geography, circumstance or scale.
It is a way of responding.
Three Decades, One Continuous Journey
Thirty years after the Trust began its journey in Mundra, the Adani Foundation has grown across geographies, programmes and generations. Its work now spans education, healthcare and nutrition, livelihoods and women’s empowerment, skill development, climate action, community infrastructure, sports, inclusion and humanitarian response.
Yet, at the heart of this expansive journey, the central idea remains unchanged: to create ecosystems in which people and communities can thrive.
It means ensuring that a child can reach school, a patient can access timely care, a farmer can build a stable livelihood and a woman can achieve economic independence. It means enabling a young person to dream bigger, helping communities withstand crisis, ensuring that persons with disabilities live with dignity and independence and giving natural ecosystems the opportunity to recover and flourish.
Over three decades, the Foundation’s journey has been shaped by thousands of such moments. Some are large and visible; others are quiet and deeply personal: a school bus arriving in a village, a medical consultation reaching a remote settlement, a farmer gaining access to water, a woman starting a business, a student seeing a port, airport or solar park for the first time, a mangrove sapling taking root or a family receiving support in a moment of crisis.
Individually, each may seem like a single intervention. Together, they create something far greater: pathways to progress and possibility.
And behind every such possibility is a philosophy that has guided the Adani Foundation for 30 years, and continues to shape its journey ahead: Serve Better At All Times.
THE ADANI FOUNDATION TODAY
Years of service
Million+ lives reached
Villages
States of India
Lakh students empowered every year
Core areas: Education | Health & Nutrition | Sustainable Livelihoods | Climate Action | Community Development
Billion litres additional water storage capacity created
Million saplings planted
Lakh+ youths trained through Adani SAKSHAM
The Next 30 Years
The first 30 years of the Adani Foundation were about building the foundations of service.
The next chapter is about deepening impact. The challenges facing communities are evolving. So are the solutions. Education is becoming more digital and technology-enabled. Healthcare is becoming more integrated. Livelihoods are becoming more skill-intensive. Climate resilience is becoming an urgent necessity and a collective responsibility. Communities are becoming more connected, but the need for empathy, inclusion and participation remains as important as ever.
The Foundation’s journey continues to evolve with these changing realities. Yet its guiding belief remains firmly rooted in the past. A belief inherited from Shri Shantilal Bhudarmal Adani. Strengthened by Smt Shantaba. Nurtured by Dr Priti Adani.
Carried forward by our Chairman’s philosophy of seva, and brought to life every day by the people who work alongside communities across India. Thirty years on, the journey continues. Because service is not a destination. It is a commitment.
And when it is practiced every day, it has the power to transform lives, strengthen communities and shape a better future.