Adani Group's market capitalisation on Wednesday regained $200 billion-mark (Rs 16.9 lakh crore) after its listed firms gained Rs 11,300 crore as investors reposed faith on the company denying any wrongdoing in supply of coal to Tamil Nadu power company. With Rs 11,300 crore gain on Wednesday, the apples-to-airport conglomerate gained Rs 56,250 crore in market capitalisation in the last two trading sessions, stock exchange data showed.
Salim Damji, who five years ago had pleaded guilty to cheating a large number of investors to the tune of about $78 million, was this week charged with fraud and forgery.
For the startup ecosystem in India, the scorecard so far has been a mixed bag, observes Akhil Gupta.
The problem is with the broking model and what brokers are allowed to do, notes Debashis Basu.
These investors were lured into investing funds on promise of high returns by Puri, the main accused in the Rs 300-crore (Rs 3-billion) scam.
Why are DIIs holding such a high stake in Zee, which is beset with alleged governance issues? Perhaps they think Zee is a deep-value stock, observes Debashis Basu.
rediffGURU Ramalingam Kalirajan answers your personal finance queries.
Such tip-offs can be provided through phone using the toll-free number or via email and they will be kept confidential, while anonymous complaints can also be submitted for further probe by the relevant departments of the exchange.
Billionaire Gautam Adani-led group's renewable energy firm on Thursday announced plans to raise Rs 12,300 crore through a share sale to investors as the group continues to build on a comeback strategy to emerge out of allegations of fraud levelled by a US short-seller. Adani Green Energy Ltd in a stock exchange filing said its board has approved raising up to Rs 12,300 crore through an issue of equity shares by way of qualified institutional placement (QIP). The funds are intended to be used for meeting capital needs of the company's expansion plans.
With auditing under the scanner and two of the Big Four firms stopping non-audit services for audit clients, auditors will now be subjected to a more stringent standard of reporting.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday urged Indian startups to keep their valuation "realistic" and distinguish between the goals of the organisation and its founder. "Startups may strive for long-term value creation rather than short-term valuations. "The valuations of businesses should be kept as realistic as possible," CII said in its Corporate Governance Charter for Startups.
"The government has taken several steps to protect interests of investors. The Companies Bill, 2009, which is before the Parliamentary Standing Committee, has allowed Class Action Suit for the first time in the country," corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid said in the Lok Sabha.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone will prepay $195 million of debt due in 2024 as the conglomerate helmed by Gautam Adani looks to boost investors' confidence post being targeted by a US short-seller. In a stock exchange filing, APSEZ said it will buy back $195 million of bonds due in 2024 using its cash reserves. Out of the $520 million principal outstanding, $325 million will be left after the buyback, it said.
Abu Dhabi's International Holding Company, one of the first high-profile investors in billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, has decided to sell its stake in two Adani companies. In a disclosure, IHC said it has "entered into a definitive agreement with a buyer to dispose of its FDI investment in Adani Green Energy Ltd and Adani Transmission Ltd". It, however, did not name the buyer.
The mystery surrounding the alleged fund diversion from Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zee) by founders Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka has thickened with speculations of an amount multiple times higher than that cited by the ex-parte interim order passed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) dated June 12, 2023. While Zee shares witnessed a fresh selloff on Wednesday, news reports of accounting fraud left investors guessing about the hole in the media broadcaster's books. An order by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) in October 2023 had clearly hinted that Sebi's investigation had found a deeper rout.
The aggrieved investors of National Spot Exchange (NSEL) have moved the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) against Financial Technologies (FTIL), the listed promoter.
With an aim to safeguard the investors from possible frauds involving collective investment schemes, the government has proposed a high-level committee of members from Reserve Bank, Sebi, Corporate Affairs Ministry and Economic Office Wing of state police departments.
Amit Mathur, a resident of Shrewsbury in Massachusetts, was sentenced on May 12 by the Federal District Court in Worcester following his conviction on 18 counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud, the Boston Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
Stricter norms of corporate governance under the Companies Act 2013 as well as increasing application of technology for early detection of frauds through data analysis surveillance and usage of forensic tool are among the other steps taken by the government to prevent fraud by companies, Jaitley said.
The alleged mastermind of Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) Citibank fraud, Shivraj Puri, invested most of the funds raised from corporate entities and high networth individuals in derivative instruments in stock markets.
Adani group opened a $1.2 billion copper plant, bought a port in Odisha, raised stakes in a cement company and stitched an alliance with rival Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, all in a matter of one week in signs that the apples-to-airport conglomerate has shrugged off the Hindenburg effect and is back to rapid expansion spree. In the last one week, Adani group has through regulatory filings and press statements announced expansions and investments in its mainstay ports business, diversification into metal refining, fund infusion into a two-year-old cement foray and continuing progress in the commissioning of its mega solar project.
The legislation is being implemented by the Corporate Affairs Ministry. Many provisions of the new law came into effect from April 1.
A fresh PIL was filed on Thursday in the Supreme Court seeking a probe by multiple central government agencies under the supervision of a panel or a former apex court judge against the Adani Group of companies following allegations of fraud and share price manipulation made by the US-based Hindenburg Research.
"There was an income tax raid at the firm premises sometime back... later, the company did pay up the required tax. But it came to light that certain bogus bills were debited in the account, which inflated expenses. The company had taken advantage of this while filing its income tax," a senior official of the serious frauds investigation office, who didn't wish to be identified, said.
Lata Ramgobin, who is the daughter of noted rights activists Ela Gandhi and late Mewa Ramgobind, was also refused leave to appeal both the conviction and the sentence by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
At the same time, he cautioned authorities against giving corporate governance and rating awards to companies before they actually prove that they are practising the same. Pointing out that the people were taken in by the wrong numbers given by the company, he said people should always be on guard and ask more questions before making investment decisions.
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.
In 1937, a hydrogen-powered German airship flying into New Jersey caught fire and crashed, killing 35 passengers on board. It was sort of a man-made disaster as some 100 people were loaded on to a balloon filled with the most flammable material in the universe. The airship was named Hindenburg. Eight decades later, in 2017, a graduate of international business management from the University of Connecticut founded a "forensic financial research" firm to specialise in spotting wrongdoings and frauds, or what it calls man-made disasters, at companies around the globe and take market bets against them.
The investigation pertains to a case against Pranav Jewellers, a partnership firm based in Tiruchirapalli, whom the ED raided on November 20 and claimed to have seized "unexplained" cash of Rs 23.70 lakh and some gold jewellery.
By contrast, the fraud enabled Raju's kin and aides to make hundreds of crores, charges CBI.
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 Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Thursday its order on a batch of PILs on the recent Adani group shares crash triggered by the Hindenburg Research's fraud allegations.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to roll out a new regulatory framework for registrar and transfer agents (RTAs) - the market intermediaries responsible for the record-keeping of bondholders and shareholders after a company offers securities to the public. The markets regulator, sources said, is considering a multifold increase in net-worth requirement, a move that may dissuade companies from having in-house RTAs for record-keeping. At present, the minimum net worth required for RTAs is Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh in categories I and II, respectively.
French energy giant TotalEnergies SE's $300 million investment in clean energy projects of Adani Green Energy Ltd has taken the total investments poured in by global investors in India's largest renewable power producer to $1.63 billion or about Rs 14,000 crore, sources close to the company said. Last week, Total announced it will hold a 50 per cent stake in the new joint venture firm where Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) will hold the rest. The joint venture will hold a portfolio of 1,050 MW, including 300 MW of already operational capacity, 500 MW under construction and 250 MW under-development assets with a blend of solar and wind power.
Billionaire Gautam Adani-led promoter group has increased its stake in the group's flagship firm as the ports-to-energy conglomerate continues to recover from the effects of a report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research. Promoter group has increased stake in Adani Enterprises Ltd from 67.65 per cent to 69.87 per cent, according to a stock exchange filing. Promoter group firm Kempas Trade and Investment Ltd, which had a minimal stake in the firm, acquired 2.22 per cent in the open market between August 7 and August 18, it said.
As many as 267 of 453 companies from the BSE500 index are trading above their consensus price targets, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg. Not all companies in the BSE500 index are tracked by analysts.
Self-employed Ramgobin is alleged to have defrauded two local businessmen of more than 11 million South African Rand (Rs 5.38 crore) by claiming that she had secured a tender to import bedding from India for the private hospital group Netcare.
Facing opposition fire for exit polls allegedly being used for stock market manipulation, Axis My India's chief Pradeep Gupta has said he is open to facing all kinds of investigations and it would help do business in a much better way if the government frames specific regulations for pollsters.
Prioritising investor protection in the backdrop of corporate frauds and failures worldwide, Company Affairs Ministry said it will expedite the process of putting in place Competition Commission, NCLT and a comprehensive Companies Act.
In the country's biggest corporate fraud involving about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion), iconic IT company Satyam was today hurtling towards disaster following the shocking disclosure of accounts fudging by its founder Ramalinga Raju, who then quit as chairman - leaving an uncertain future for the company and its 53,000 employees.
