RBI asks banks to share information on exposure to Adani Group: Report

Hindenburg Research alleged that the Adani Group was engaged in "a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme".

New Delhi, Feb 02: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought information from commercial banks' exposure to the Adani Group after the company's shares crashed following US-based short seller Hindenburg Research's report last week.

Reportedly, the central bank asked banks to furnish details of the amount of loan sanctioned and that outstanding to the group as on January 31.

Hindenburg Research alleged last week that the Adani Group was engaged in "a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme".

Adani Enterprises called off its Rs 20,000 crore share sale after the company's stocks took a beating following criticism by American short seller Hindenburg Research.

"The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held today i.e. February 1, 2023 has decided, in the interest of its subscribers, not to proceed with the further public offer (FPO) of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 20,000 crore of face value Rs 1 each on partly paid-up basis, which was fully subscribed," the company said in an exchange filing.

Explaining the reason behind the call off, Gautam Adani said "For me, the interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence to insulate investors from potential losses we've withdrawn FPO. This decision will not have an impact on our existing operations and future plans. We'll continue to focus on timely execution."

"Our balance sheet is healthy and assets, robust. Our EBIDTA levels and cash flows have been very strong, and we have an impeccable track record of fulfilling our debt obligations. We'll continue to focus on long-term value creation and growth will be managed by internal accruals," Adani assured.
"Once the market stabilises, we'll review our capital market strategy. We have a strong focus on ESG and every business of ours will continue to create value in a responsible way. The strongest validation of our governance principles comes from our several int'l partnerships," he said.

Indian banks have around Rs 80,000 crore exposure in Adani, which is 38 per cent of the group's total debt.