On 24 January 2023, a report published by American-based investment research company Hindenburg claimed Adani Group was committing fraud.
Hindenburg claims that after two years of research, they found that the company had “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud schemes over the course of decades.” The report consists of 32,000 words claiming decades of fraud from the company and ended with 88 questions for Adani Group to respond to.
Following the report, the company has publicly lost more than $50bn in market value. On Friday, 20% of the company’s shares fell. The report has even had demands of investigation by Congress.
The conglomerate company states that they even want to pursue legal action against Hindenburg.
On Sunday, in an attempt to rebut these claims made by Hindenburg, Adani Group issued a 400 page document that detailed a response to the allegations of wrongdoing. The company has claimed the contents of the report to be malicious and a "calculated attack on India.”
They state the report was intended to enable the US-based short seller to book gains, without citing evidence. The response also states that 65 of the 88 questions have been disclosed by Adani Group’s Portfolio in annual reports.The rest were related to public shareholders and third parties, and Adani claimed they were "baseless allegations based on imaginary fact patterns".
Hindenburg stated that they “believe India's future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation."
Reuters reports that “the Hindenburg report, and its fallout, is seen as one of the biggest career challenges to face the billionaire, whose business interests range from ports, airports, mining and power to media and cement.”
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