Weeks after it revised the rating outlook of two companies of embattled Adani group, S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said it is watching for additional information on the conglomerate's governance and funding for any ratings action. Investors, it said, seek clarity on the credit impact of a string of allegations against the group in a short-seller report published in late January, and on the findings of a recently launched Supreme Court investigation. S&P Global published an FAQ-style commentary titled, "Adani Group: The Known Unknowns".
The net profit of the listed Adani group companies more than doubled year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the first half of 2023-24 (H1FY24), even as their revenue declined in this period. The nine firms posted a 107.7 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 23,929 crore in April-September compared to the year-ago period. Net sales, on the other hand, were down 14 per cent to Rs 1.49 trillion in H1FY24, data collated by Business Standard showed.
The government has not set up any committee to probe allegations a US short seller labelled against the Adani Group, but stock market regulator SEBI is investigating market allegations against the group, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. A separate investigation into imports of Indonesian coal by the conglomerate hasn't reached finality, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said. Lok Sabha saw several questions being put by MPs to the government on the Adani issue, which were replied through written responses by the minister.
Embattled Adani group has appointed accountancy firm Grant Thornton for an independent audit of some of its companies in a bid to come clean of the damning allegations levelled by the US short-seller Hindenburg Research and to assure investors and regulators. Sources said the audit is primarily to show to regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that the group has nothing to hide and it is in compliance with relevant laws. The audit will specifically look into if there was any misappropriation or repatriation of funds and if loans were used for any purpose other than the one they were intended for.
Those who worry that the Adani saga will turn the world off India are not looking at the entire picture, asserts Mihir S Sharma.
The Adani group stocks continued to remain under pressure on Friday, falling up to 20 per cent in morning trade, after the US-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research made damaging allegations. Shares of Adani Total Gas plummeted 19.65 per cent, Adani Transmission tumbled 19 per cent, Adani Green Energy plunged 15.50 per cent and Adani Enterprises tanked 6.19 per cent on the BSE. Also, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone fell 5.31 per cent, Adani Wilmar dipped 5 per cent and Adani Power declined 4.99 per cent.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he is not completely opposed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the charges against the Adani group, but a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.
All the BSE sectoral indices closed in the green. BSE Realty, Auto, Capital Goods and Industrials were lead gainers, jumping up to 5 per cent. IndusInd Bank was the lead gainer among Sensex shares, surging by 6.84 per cent. Tata Motors rallied 4.50 per cent. Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and HCL Tech were also among the gainers. ITC and Hindustan Unilever were the only laggards.
Industrialist Gautam Adani slipped out of the World' Real-time Billionaires list of Forbes on Friday and was placed in 22nd position. Gautam Adani's wealth had declined 21.77 per cent or $16.2 billion. The current net worth of the industrialist was $581.1 billion at 1.23 pm (IST) on Friday afternoon, while Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani's net worth was at $82 billion.
Gandhi has been attacking the prime minister on the Adani issue and has been demanding an investigation into the matter.
After a $110 billion rout in market value, embattled Adani group got some reprieve on Tuesday after shares of most of its listed firms rebounded on bourses and international rating agencies said there was no credit risk for lenders with exposure to the group. The group, which is in the midst of a political storm after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research's adverse report dated January 24 triggered a meltdown in group stocks wiping out billions of dollars in market value, also had a mixed day with the quarterly results of four of its entities, particularly Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone reporting a 12.94 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,336.51 crore for the December quarter 2022. Shares of flagship firm Adani Enterprises settled nearly 15 per cent higher at Rs 1,802.50 apiece while shares of Adani Wilmar jumped 5 per cent to end at Rs 399.40 on BSE.
Billionaire Gautam Adani has said the decision to withdraw a fully subscribed share sale of the flagship firm of his group was primarily because of volatility in the market. Adani Group company stocks have lost over $90 billion in value since a US short seller made damning allegations. Adani Enterprises Ltd's Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer managed to get investors on the last day of the share close on Tuesday.
'It's a clear case of political patronage helping an individual grow.'
The United States on Saturday rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegations that organisations funded by the US State Department and elements in the American 'deep state' were behind attempts to destabilise India through targeted attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business tycoon Gautam Adani.
A day after the promoters of Adani Group prepaid $1.1 billion loans, one of the group's listed entities - Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) - announced that it would prepay loans of up to Rs 5,000 crore by next month-end so as to improve its financial metrics. The company is targeting an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of around Rs 15,000 crore this financial year. This was revealed by Karan Adani, chief executive officer (CEO) and whole-time director of APSEZ, while announcing the September-December 2022 results.
From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Adani Ports jumped over 5 per cent. NTPC, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Zomato, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank and Maruti were among the other big gainers. From the 30-share pack, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and UltraTech Cement were the other laggards.
The Adani group will be generating almost 90 percent of its Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) from infrastructure business by 2025 as compared to 83 per cent generated from these businesses currently, top company officials told bankers recently. Of the infrastructure business, 49 per cent of the profits are currently contributed by energy and utility, another 25 per cent by transport and rest by cement and logistics businesses. This will go up substantially as several new projects like Navi Mumbai airport and other projects get commissioned and contribute to the overall Ebitda pie, bankers were told.
An expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court said it cannot conclude any regulatory failure around Adani Group's stock rallies, and that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has 'drawn a blank' in its probe into alleged violations in money flows from offshore entities into the conglomerate.
US short seller Hindenburg Research has rejected Adani Group's charge that its report was an attack on India, saying a "fraud" cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignored response to key allegations. Commenting on the 413-page response Adani Group released late on Sunday evening in response to its report, Hindenburg said it believed India was a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future and it was Adani Group which was holding it back through "systematic loot". Hindenburg stood by its last week's report that said its two-year investigation found Adani Group "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades".
Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations in its report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group.
With husband Vicky Kaushal's Chhaava doing so well at the box office, Katrina Kaif seems to be just as grateful, as she heads to the Maha Kumbh Mela with mother-in-law Veena Kaushal.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's group on Monday listed out details of the $2.87 billion stake sales in group firms since 2019 and how $2.55 billion of this was ploughed back into business, as it looked to counter Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claim of Rs 20,000 crore coming in to the conglomerate through 'shell companies'. While investors such as Abu Dhabi-based global strategic investment company, International Holding Company PJSC (IHC) invested $2.593 billion in group firms such as Adani Enterprise Ltd and Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), promoters sold stake in Adani Total Gas Ltd and AGEL to raise $2.783 billion. "These funds were reinvested by promoter entities to support the growth of new business and in portfolio companies such as Adani Enterprises Ltd, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Power Ltd," the group said.
Proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted as Opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout.
Billionaire Gautam Adani-led promoter group has paid off all of the $2.15 billion loans taken pledging their shares in the conglomerate, and only debt at operating company level remains, Adani Group said seeking to assure investors of its ability to repay debt. Adani Group in a statement termed reports of the group not completing repayment of $2.15 billion share-backed debt "baseless and deliberately mischievous." "Adani has completed full prepayment of margin linked share-backed financing aggregating to $2.15 billion (as was announced on March 12) and all corresponding shares pledged for those facilities have been released," it said.
Hindenburg Research has alleged that Adani Group was "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud", a charge the conglomerate described as malicious, unsubstantiated, one-sided, and having done with malafide intention to ruin its share-sale.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Zomato, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, NTPC, State Bank of India and Reliance Industries were among the major gainers. On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, Infosys, Sun Pharma, Maruti, HCL Tech, and Nestle were among the laggards.
Actively managed mutual fund (MF) schemes had been at the receiving end over the past few years for their inability to beat their benchmarks. However, the slump in shares of Adani Group companies - two of which are part of the benchmark National Stock Exchange Nifty50 index - have helped them improve their performance vis--vis exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or index funds.
The combined market-cap of all listed Adani group firms has plunged nearly Rs 7.11 trillion since January 24 when the Hindenburg report was made public.
News, as a business, faces its biggest crisis ever, globally. To fight it needs investment in feet-on-the-ground journalism, tech tools like artificial intelligence among other things.
With billionaire Gautam Adani launching a hostile takeover of NDTV, the Congress on Wednesday alleged that the bid by a company owned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'khaas dost' (special friend) is a brazen move to control and stifle any semblance of an independent media.
Shares of Adani group firms have faced heavy drubbing since Tuesday's close last week, after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research made damaging allegations against the conglomerate. Most of the group firms fell for the third day running on Monday. Since Tuesday's close last week, shares of Adani Transmission have tumbled 41.66 per cent, Adani Total Gas tanked 39.57 per cent, Adani Green Energy declined 37.55 per cent and Adani Ports fell 23.75 per cent on the BSE.
From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, Zomato, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Titan were the biggest gainers. Tata Motors tanked over 5.5 per cent after US President Donald Trump announced he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported cars. Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the laggards.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought details about lenders' exposures to the Adani Group, banking sources said, a day after the conglomerate withdrew the Rs 20,000-crore follow on public offer (FPO) of its flagship firm Adani Enterprises amid the steep fall in its stock prices. On Wednesday, Swiss lender Credit Suisse stopped accepting bonds by Adani group companies as collaterals for margin lending. The going has been tough for the diversified conglomerate over the past week ever since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research levelled a slew of allegations about the group's operations, calling it the biggest corporate con ever.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's embattled conglomerate said its balance sheet is "very healthy" and is laser focused on continuing business momentum, as it looked to reassure investors to keep faith in the conglomerate despite a share rout triggered by a damning report by a US short-seller. Group CFO Jugeshinder (Robbie) Singh in an earnings call said the group is confident of its internal controls, compliance and corporate governance. Separately, it released a compendium of group companies to highlight that it has adequate cash reserves and has ability to refinance debt.
Several Opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday attacked the government over a media report claiming that a key Adani group investor is also co-owner with the conglomerate in a defence firm.
Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, sliding 8.59 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharmaceutical, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and NTPC, were the major laggards. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, ICICI Bank, ITC, Asian Paints and Axis Bank were among the gainers.
If I were to explain stealth to a layperson, I'd ask them to think of the game chupan-chupai (hide and seek) we played as children, explains Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Saturday said Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar not favouring formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe allegations against the Adani group will not lead to cracks in opposition unity.
Mukesh Ambani, the patriarch of Reliance Industries (RIL), and Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group of companies, have secured the top positions on the Fortune India Rich List, created in partnership with Waterfield Advisors, with respective wealth of $99.7 billion and $63.71 billion. With a wealth of $34.6 billion, the Mistry family of Shapoorji Pallonji Group holds the third position on the list, while the Poonawalla family, owners of vaccine maker Serum Institute, with a wealth of $32.9 billion, stands fourth. Stockbroker and founder of D-Mart-branded grocery stores, Radhakishan Damani, claims the fifth spot on the India Rich List with a wealth of $23.4 billion
