Govt refuses to comment on Adani Group crisis

The government on Wednesday refused to comment on the fraud allegations levelled by a US short seller on Adani Group, which triggered a massive USD 90-billion rout in the group firms shares, saying it does not comment on individual company matters.

“We in government dont respond to issues related to a particular company,” Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said during the post Budget interaction with media here.

Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday had also refused to comment on the impact of the rout in Adani Group shares following a damning report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.

Shares of Adani Group firms slumped on Wednesday and have lost more than Rs 7 lakh crore or about 38 per cent of their combined market cap in the last five trading sessions amid concerns over US-based short seller Hindenburg Researchs report.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg in the report made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, at the Gautam Adani-led group.

Hindenburg released the report on January 24 — the day on which Adani Enterprises Rs 20,000-crore follow-on share sale opened for anchor investors, while the allegations have been rejected by the conglomerate.

At the end of Wednesdays trading session, all the group companies settled in negative territory with shares of three companies hit their lowest price band. Shares of Adani Enterprises nosedived 28.45 per cent to close at Rs 2,128.70 on the BSE despite the companys Rs 20,000-crore share sale sailed through on the last day on Tuesday after non-retail investors bid in big volumes. There was, however, a muted response from retail investors and company employees.

The counter of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone plunged 19.69 per cent, Adani Total Gas slumped 10 per cent, Adani Green Energy declined 5.78 per cent, Adani Wilmar fell 4.99 per cent, Adani Wilmar went down 4.99 per cent, Adani Power dropped 4.98 per cent and Adani Transmission slipped 2.46 per cent. In addition, Ambuja Cements tanked 16.56 per cent, while ACC dropped 6.34 per cent and NDTV went down 4.98 per cent.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)