Subramanian Swamy calls Gautam Adani 'the biggest NPA trapeze artiste in PSUs'; says time he is made 'accountable'

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday called industrialist Gautam Adani the "biggest NPA (Non-Performing Asset) trapeze artiste in PSUs".

Adani, who controls India's largest private port in Gujarat, saw his wealth grow by 109 per cent to $14 billion, according Hurun's Global Rich List 2018.

Known for his blunt talk, Swamy said, "It is time he is made accountable or a PIL is inevitable."

"There are a number of things he is getting away with and nobody is questioning him. It may become an embarrassment for the government as he portrays himself as close to it," Swamy claimed.

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the majority of Gautam Adani's fortune is derived from his 63 per cent stake in Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, which was spun off in 2015 from Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of Adani Group.

The Adani Group founder owns about 75 per cent of Adani Enterprises, 69 per cent of Adani Power and 75 per cent of Adani Transmissions.

Swamy said the government should call for a status report on different cases involving his companies and listed NPAs, and controversies over coal import and his business in Australia among these matters.

Reacting to Swamy's comments, the Adani Group issued a statement saying it has a history of implementing world-scale infrastructure projects within a short time and the lowest cost quartile.

"Capital intensive projects necessarily require debt capital," it said.

"Also, almost all of our companies enjoy a high credit rating from domestic rating agencies. This is a testimony to the extremely high discipline followed by the Group, in meeting with its debt obligations-diligently and on an on-going basis," the statment further added.

"Given our rating track record, different sources of debt are available to the Group, ranging from international bonds, ECB loans, domestic bonds, loans from private sector as well as public sector banks in India.

"The singular critical test for debt is its regular servicing-something which the Adani Group has implemented diligently, since its inception," it said.

Adani Group stated that only half of its long-term borrowings come from PSU banks, amounting to about Rs 34,000 crore, and 'is regularly serviced'.

(with PTI inputs)