Malicious Attempt Aimed At Damaging Our Reputation: Adani On Hindenburg Report

Adani Group Chairperson Gautam Adani on Tuesday called the Hindenburg report was a deliberate and malicious attempt aimed at damaging his company's reputation.

"The report was a combination of targeted misinformation and discredited allegations, the majority of them dating from 2004 to 2015. They were all settled by the appropriate authorities at that time. This report was a deliberate and malicious attempt aimed at damaging our reputation and generating profits through a short-term drive-down of our stock prices," Adani Group Chairperson Gautam Adani said at the company's 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023.

In January, the Hindenburg report had accused the Adani Group of engaging "in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades".

"Subsequently, despite a fully subscribed FPO, we decided to withdraw and return the money to our investors to protect their interests. While we promptly issued a comprehensive rebuttal, various vested interests tried to exploit the claims made by the short seller. These entities encouraged and promoted false narratives across various news and social media platforms," he said.

While the Opposition targeted the Centre over the issue, the matter reached the Supreme Court which appointed an expert committee and asked the SEBI to investigate the issue.

In May, the committee had in an interim report stated that it saw "no evident pattern of manipulation" in billionaire Gautam Adani's companies and there was no regulatory failure. The top court had then asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to file a status report.

Last week, the Supreme Court asked the SEBI about the status of its ongoing investigation into the allegations of stock price manipulation and said the probe has to be concluded expeditiously by the extended time it has granted till August 14.

"The (SC-constituted) expert committee did not find any regulatory failure. The committee's report not only observed that the mitigating measures undertaken by your company (Adani Group) helped rebuilt confidence but also cited that there were credible charges of targetted destabilisation of Indian markets," the industrialist said.

"It also confirmed the quality of our Group's disclosures and found no instance of any breach. While SEBI is still to submit its report we are confident of our governance and disclosure standards. It is my commitment that we will continue to strive to keep improving this every single day. Our track record speaks for itself," he added.