Will Dharavi become another Bandra-Kurla? What Gautam Adani gets out of it

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Gautam Adani, the Chairman of Adani Group, has promised to change Dharavi so much that it will produce millionaires without the slumdog prefix. Adani Properties, an Adani Group company, has recently won the bid to redevelop Dharavi, an area spread over nearly 600 acres of prime land in the heart of Mumbai.

Rehabilitation of nearly 700,000 dwellers is no easy task, with many already doubting if the redevelopment would actually help them while many others are afraid that they would be just thrown out. However, Adani has promised to rehabilitate all the eligible as well as non-eligible residents.

Why has Adani decided to jump into a controversial project which was delayed for 20 years and involves knotty economic and social problems?The social equity Adani, whose stocks were hammered after American short-seller Hindenburg Research came out with a damning report a few months ago, accusing the group of various wrongdoings, might see an opportunity in the Dharavi redevelopment to burnish his image as a socially conscious industrialist. Indeed, if Adani is successful in rehabilitation of people and small businesses and industry of Dharavi, he will not only gain social brownie points but will also present a model for more such slum redevelopment projects across India.

The social equity Adani will earn will help him bolster the image of his group which got mired in a big controversy. What Adani has promised to do with Dharavi is nothing short of magic.

Adani says he intends to not only transform Mumbai's Dharavi into a modern city centre but also preserve and promote the local micro enterprises and small industries. Rehabilitation of livelihoods could involve a combination of training centres focused on upskilling, common