Gautam was born in a Gujarati Bania family with a business background as his father was into textile business.Since his childhood, he was not interested in academics and was a school as well as a university drop out.At the age of 18, he went to Mumbai and worked as a diamond sorter at Mahindra Brothers for two years over there.Later, after gaining some experience, he established his own diamond brokerage business at Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai, India.He then returned to Ahmedabad after his elder brother, Mahasukh Adani, asked him to help in setting his newly purchased plastic factory.In a short span of time, he started importing PolyVinyl Chloride (PVC) that is the primary material used in the manufacturing of plastics, and with his skills, he visited South Korea to make a deal of importing PVC.After grasping essential things required in trading, he started Adani Export Ltd. in 1988 (now Adani Enterprises Limited), which was initially concerned with agricultural and power.Gautam was highly benefitted from the liberalization and economic reforms of 1991, as it led to a sudden rise in the companys revenue and business which in turn helped him to expand his company.In 1993, at a Government of Gujarat event, the Adani Group was invited to take up the Mundra port project and two years later, the contract was given to the group. Adani took Mundra Port to heights by making it the largest Private Sector port in India.He also founded the Adani Power Ltd(APL) and has established thermal power plant with the capacity of 4620 MW, which is the largest private thermal power producer in the country.