Mumbai: India’s Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that country’s macro fundamentals and economic image are not affected by the Adani Group’s withdrawal of its Rs 20,000 crore FPO.
In the last two days alone, USD 8 billion in forex came in, the Finance Minister of India said during a post-Budget press conference.
“…our macro economic fundamentals or our economy’s image, none of which has been affected. Yes, FPOs (follow-on public offers) come in, and FIIs get out,” Sitharaman told reporters, as per PTI.
She said the regulators will do their job on the Adani issue. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has the wherewithal to ensure the stability of markets.
The comments came as Adani Enterprises decided to withdraw its fully subscribed Rs 20,000-crore follow-on public offer (FPO) and return the proceeds to investors.
The shares of India’s Adani Enterprises sank drastically after a scathing report by Hindenburg Research triggered a rout in the conglomerate’s listed firms.
The report titled ‘Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History’, questioned the accounting and corporate governance practices of Adani Group, and also raised the issue of heavy debt last week.
The report claimed that the Adani Group companies participated in a clear stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over decades. The report also led shares of the Indian giant to go down.
The Hindenburg Research report was prepared after two years of research and investigation by this forensic financial research firm.
In an official tweet, Hindenburg Research wrote, “Today we reveal the findings of our 2-year investigation, presenting evidence that the INR 17.8 trillion (U.S. $218 billion) Indian conglomerate Adani Group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.”
The research alleges that Gautam Adani has managed to amass a net worth of nearly $120 billion, largely through stock price appreciation over the last three years. It also alleges that the group’s seven key listed companies have spiked at an average of 819 per cent over the entire period.
