Mark Mobius unfazed by Adani-Hindenburg row, stays bullish on India

Veteran emerging markets investor Mark Mobius said when it comes to stock picking, his rule of thumb is to go for companies with very low or zero debt. In a tweet, Mobius said he was confident about Indian stock market. With abundant talent and great companies, India has immense potential, he said adding that any market volatility would be short-lived.

Mobius' tweet came at a time the domestic market was reeling under heavy selling pressure, led by a steep fall in Adani group stocks, thanks to allegations of stock manipulation and accounting frauds on the Adani group by Hindenburg Research. A host of allegations and counter-allegations followed. A couple of institutes issued clarifications over their exposure to the Adani group. Adani group, on the other hand, withdrew India's biggest follow-on public offer (FPO) by Adani Enterprises. It also announced prepayments of its loans to allay investor concerns.

With the tweet, Mobius also tagged his last week's email interview to Bloomberg where he said his firm didn’t participate in Adani Enterprises’ Rs 20,000 crore FPO, before it was withdrawn, as concerns over the group debt “scared us away.”

Bloomberg reported Mobius as saying: “We were not interested in Adani companies because they did not meet our investment criteria, particularly as regards to debt.”

In a Bloomberg TV interview later on Thursday, Mobius said the investor retreat as a result of the Hindenburg report “is an Adani problem.”  He told Bloomberg that India is an incredible country with incredible prospects.

"I think it’s just one of the typical scandals you get in capital markets and it’ll pass,” he told Bloomberg.

Also read: Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Adani Wilmar, Adani Transmission shares rally up to 25% today. JPMorgan, other reasons

Also read: Adani Wilmar shares halt 8-day losing run, climb 5% today amid heavy volumes