US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report on the finances and valuation of Adani companies has brought to a halt the meteoric rise in the fortunes of group firms on the bourses. The Adani group has lost more than a quarter of its combined market capitalisation (m-cap) since the publication of the report on Wednesday; it has fallen behind the Mukesh Ambani group in the m-cap league table.
The combined m-cap of the 10 listed Adani firms declined sharply to Rs 15.02 trillion on Friday, from Rs 19.20 trillion on Tuesday —the day before the publication of the Hindenburg Research report. In comparison, the combined m-cap of 10 Mukesh Ambani group companies, including Reliance Industries, is down 3.21 per cent to Rs 16.09 trillion on Friday, from Rs 16.63 trillion on Tuesday. The Tata group remains at the top with a group m-cap of Rs 21.6 trillion on Friday, marginally down from Rs 21.74 trillion on Tuesday.
In August last year, the Adani group overtook the Mukesh Ambani group in m-cap terms.
A sharp decline in Adani group stocks in the past two trading sessions is in contrast with a relatively resilient showing by other big family-owned business groups on the bourses. For example, the combined m-cap of the Rahul Bajaj group is down just 0.24 per cent in the past two days, while AV Birla group companies together have lost just Rs 9,000 crore worth of m-cap since Tuesday — a 1.9 per cent decline. This excludes the numbers of Vodafone Idea.