A day after Adani Group's shares took a beating as Hindenburg Research made damaging allegations against it, the group on Thursday said it is examining legal options to take "punitive action" against the US activist investor for its "reckless" attempt to sabotage a share-sale at the conglomerate's flagship firm. "The maliciously mischievous, unresearched report published by Hindenburg Research on January 24, 2023 has adversely affected the Adani Group, our shareholders and investors. "The volatility in Indian stock markets created by the report is of great concern and has led to unwanted anguish for Indian citizens," the group's lead head Jatin Jalundhwala said in a statement.
Mid-cap information technology (IT) stocks dominate the list of companies that are trading significantly above their 200-DMA
Sources said that the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has come across quite a few cases where GDR route could have been used for round-tripping of funds in the name of capital-raising activities of listed companies from abroad.
George Soros, who is in the eye of the storm over his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Adani issue, is an Hungarian-born American financier, philanthropist, and activist whose success as an investor made him one of the wealthiest men in the world. He is also known as a powerful and influential supporter of liberal social causes. In a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, the billionaire philanthropist said he believes the turmoil at Gautam Adani's business empire may weaken Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hold on the government, a statement which was strongly contested by the BJP as an attack on Indian democracy.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has made a fresh attempt at settling a regulatory investigation into the misuse of Trading Access Point (TAP) software at the bourse. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rejected a similar application in 2022. "NSE and its employees have filed a consolidated settlement application dated May 4, 2023, with Sebi.
What was the fraud? Why did Sebi drag its feet on the order? What options does RIL have now? Samie Modak explains these and more.
A small Ahmedabad-based chartered accountancy firm, whose appointment was questioned by a US short seller in its scathing report against the conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani, has resigned due to "pre-occupation", Adani Total Gas Ltd said. Hindenburg Research in its January 24 report that levelled allegations of fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering against the Adani group, had also raised the issue of the size and capability of the firms auditing the conglomerate. Adani group has repeatedly denied all allegations.
Adani Group on Monday said that the promoters will pre-pay $1,114 million for the release of pledged shares of its firms ahead of the maturity in September 2024. These shares belong to Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission, a statement said. "This is in continuation of promoters' assurance to pre-pay all share-backed financing," it said.
'Investors should not commit fresh money to these stocks right now, unless they can hold for the next three to four years.'
Parliament remained paralysed for the sixth day in a row on Monday due to protests from rival sides.
German prosecutors launched an investigation on Monday into fraud allegations against former Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn.
On Wednesday, the employees of Satyam lost close to Rs 221 crore (Rs 2.21 billion) after investors dumped the stock. At the end of the September quarter, Satyam employees were holding 5.9 million employee stock options. The unfortunate drubbing of the Satyam stock has raised serious questions about the attractiveness of the stocks held by the employees, which may be affected by any 'uncalled for' action by the company.
Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia has alleged that former minister of state for home Amit Shah had allegedly received a bribe of Rs 2.5 crore from stock market scamster Ketan Parekh to help him in a bank fraud case.
But the 30-share Sensex rose by 141.52 points, or 0.41 per cent, to close at 34,297.47. The broader NSE Nifty gained 44.60- points, or 0.42 per cent, to end at 10,545.50 after touching a high of 10,618.10.
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.
Banking stocks led by SBI, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Federal Bank and Yes Bank fell as much as 2.77 per cent.
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.
Sebi on Tuesday restrained two Brightcom Group officials, M Suresh Kumar Reddy and Narayan Raju, from holding any managerial position in the company or its subsidiaries until further orders. Reddy is the promoter-cum-chairman and MD of Brightcom Group Ltd (BGL) while Raju is the chief financial officer. Besides, the regulator also banned Reddy from the securities market until further orders.
The coming years could be exciting for Bandhan Bank, IDBI Bank, IDFC First Bank, Federal Bank, and CSB Bank.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Thursday trained its guns on the Adani Group, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
Price Waterhouse, an Indian arm of the global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, whose partners got embroiled in the Satyam accounting fraud, failed to get a reprieve from the stock market regulator, the Securities and Exchanges Board of India.
Financial index provider MSCI on Thursday said that it is reviewing the free float status of some Adani Group securities after market participants flagged concerns over eligibility of some of the group firms' securities for its indexes. MSCI defines the free float of a security as the proportion of shares outstanding that is considered available for purchase in the public equity markets by international investors. In a statement, the index provider said that it has received feedback from a range of market participants concerning the eligibility and free float determination of specific securities associated with the Adani Group for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes.
Market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, on Monday said one person named Jignesh Shah was found involved in price manipulation in stock markets and has imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 250,000) on him.
The BSE Sensex zoomed 318 points to end at 33,351.57, while the broader Nifty spurted 88 points to 10,242.65.
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.
Banking stocks led by Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI came under heavy selling pressure
Referring to Supreme Court's order against Sahara group as a benchmark for cases of unauthorized raising of money from public, Sebi has barred seven persons and one company from the markets for ten years for their involvement in the estimated Rs 1,500 crore 'StockGuru' fraud.
India's economic image is not affected due to Adani Group's recent decision to pull out Rs 20,000 crore FPO (follow-on public offers) amid allegations of financial wrongdoings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
IBM, HP and HCL, have evinced interest in Sebi's proposal to upgrade toolsused for detecting frauds.
Before resigning as an auditor of an Adani Group firm, Deloitte had sought an independent external examination of allegations made by a US short-seller but the company said the allegations had no effect on financial statements and the reasons cited for quitting were not convincing to warrant such a move. In a 163-page filing with stock exchanges relating to Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP's resignation, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said that in meetings with its leadership, Deloitte indicated concern over a lack of a wider audit role as auditors of other listed Adani companies. However, the firm conveyed to the auditor that it was not within its remit to recommend such appointments as other entities are "completely independent".
The most marked development of the year was the Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) Satyam financial scam, disclosed by the founder B Ramalinga Raju, forcing the government to redraft rules for corporate governance and auditing standards.
While PNB did not name the other lenders, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank are said to have offered credit based on letters of undertaking (LOUs) issued by PNB. Foreign bank branches too are under investigation.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) unveiled new proposals, broadening the scope of who can be held liable for insider trading violations.
For more than a decade, sockpuppets - some of them being company employees - created 'puffery' around tycoon Gautam Adani, his family and the apples-to-airport group he helmed by adding non-neutral material and removing warnings from information on Wikipedia, the free internet-based encyclopedia has alleged. Adani, a first-generation entrepreneur, has lost over $70 billion in net worth and slipped to 25th rank on the world billionaire index from being Asia's richest and the world's third most wealthy businessman, in less than a month. This followed US short-seller Hindenburg Research accusing the group of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and money laundering, allegations that the conglomerate has repeatedly denied, and threatened legal action.
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.
In an attempt to avoid Satyam-like frauds, a Sebi panel has suggested rotation of audit partners signing the accounts and giving more teeth to the company's audit committee.
A common factor that binds all these men is greed.
Given the hydrogen connection, it's ironic that Hindenburg Research released a long report, accusing the Adani group of financial manipulation, observes Devangshu Datta.
The year saw India's biggest corporate fraud, falling earnings, stock market crash, job losses and soaring food prices which hit the common man