Adani Enterprises, other Adani shares fall; group m-cap drops Rs 21,000 cr. What Sebi tells Supreme Court

Shares of Adani group companies including Adani Total Gas Ltd and Adani Transmission Ltd were down up to 5 per cent in Monday's trade amid the hearing of Sebi's plea on extension of timing to complete probe on alleged irregularities at Adani Group firms.

The group stocks stayed weak, as Sebi in a court filing said it has approached eleven overseas regulators for information to examine if the Adani group had violated any norms regarding its publicly available shares. Two of group stocks (Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises Ltd) also fell amid equity dilution concerns following announcements of a combined Rs 21,000 crore in fund raising.

At 12.30 pm, shares of Adani group flagship Adani Enterprises were trading 2.48 per cent lower at Rs 1,916 on BSE. Adani Green Energy declined 2.17 per cent to Rs 876.50.

Adani Ports & SEZ shares edged half-a-per cent lower to Rs 696.30. The Adani Power stock slipped 1.76 per cent to Rs 236.85. Adani Total Gas shares hit its 5 per cent lower circuit limit at Rs 777.45. Adani Transmission tanked 4.6 per cent to Rs 844.30. Adani Wilmar declined 1.21 per cent to Rs 387.65.

The group market capitalisation (m-cap) fell Rs 21,227 crore to Rs 9,44,910 crore from Rs 9,66,138 crore a day ago.

As per a Reuters report, Sebi told SC that any incorrect or premature conclusion of its probe into possible lapses of regulatory disclosures by billionaire Gautam Adani's eponymous group will not serve the interest of justice and will be legally untenable.

Sebi told the SC that the group's transactions highlighted by Hindenburg for violating Indian laws are highly complex and have many sub-transactions across numerous jurisdictions. The first such request, the SEBI said, was made as early as October 6, 2020, it noted

"(An) analysis would have to be conducted on the documents received from various sources before conclusive findings can be arrived at," Reuters suggested Sebi as saying.

The market regulator said that is has not been investigating Adani companies since 2016, and that the allegations are baseless. It said investigations were conducted against 51 Indian listed companies, out of which none were Adani's listed companies.

On March 2, the apex court had asked Sebi to investigate any violations of securities law by the Adani Group in the wake of the Hindenburg report, which led to a massive wipe-out of more than $140 billion of the Adani Group's market value.

Market regulator Sebi was supposed to file the report by May 2 but on April 29, it made an application seeking a six-month extension for thorough investigation into the allegations of stock manipulation and financial fraud against Adani Group.

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