The Adani-Hindenburg saga

The scuffle between Hindenburg and Adani Group started when the US investment research company released a report titled ‘Adani group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History’ on January 25, 2023

Hyderabad: The scuffle between Hindenburg and Adani Group started when the US investment research company released a report titled ‘Adani group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History’ on January 25, 2023. Here’s a recap of the time-line what happened

Jan, 2023: In it 106-page report, the short-seller alleged that the conglomerate was “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.”

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The report came just days before the Gautam-Adani led Adani Enterprises was to make a Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO).

Hindenburg also accused the Adani family members of creating offshore shell companies in tax havens such as Mauritius, the UAE and the Caribbean Islands.

Feb, 2023: Adani Enterprises cancels its Rs 20,000 crore FPO, despite the public offer being fully subscribed.

Gautam Adani dismisses the allegations as baseless and said they were made to affect their share prices. As expected, on February 24, the Adani Enterprises’ shares fell by 59 per cent pushing the company into huge losses.

A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking probe in the allegations and formation of a committee up to investigate the claims.

March, 2023: Supreme Court forms six-member panel to investigate the stock crash caused by Hindenburg’s allegations. Asks the market watchdog to wrap up its probe within two months.

May 2023: SC panel reports that there was no “evident pattern of manipulation” in the Adani Group’s companies.

May, 2023: Supreme Court extends the time and asks Sebi to produce the investigation report by August 14.

January, 2024: Apex court dismisses a plea seeking independent probe by CBI against the Adani Group; says it was the sole responsibility of Sebi to investigate.

Adani Group’s share prices were back to where they were pre- Hindenburg report by June. Conglomerate announced plans to invest over $100 billion (around Rs 8.34 lakh crore) in energy and manufacturing projects.

August, 2024: Nate Anderson’s company posts on X saying, “something big soon India”.

Releases report claiming Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and husband Dhaval Buch had investments in many offshore shell companies owned by Gautam Adani’s Brother Vinod Adani since 2015.

The report also says that those offshore firms were used for manipulating stock prices and as a market regulator, Puri Buch showed lack of transparency while investigating Adani report.