Stocks of Adani group companies tank on report of US investigation

Analysts termed Monday's fall as a knee jerk reaction and said the group stocks could gain as the conglomerate has got a clean chit vis-a-vis the allegations by Hindenburg Research

Shares of all 10 Adani group companies fell on Monday after a news report indicated that the US prosecutors had widened their investigation against the Gujarat-based conglomerate over suspicions of bribery.

The report suggested that investigators were probing whether people who liked the company were involved in bribing officials for favourable treatment on an energy project.

Adani Energy Solutions, however, said it had not received any notice from the US Department of Justice, news agency Reuters reported.

After recovering from the day’s lows, Adani group stocks finished anywhere between 0.4 per cent to 4.3 per cent lower. And the group market capitalisation plunged by Rs 25,828 crore. Adani Total Gas, which fell by 4.4 per cent, declined the most, followed by Adani Energy, which dropped by 3.4 per cent. Ambuja Cements, ACC, New Delhi Television and Adani Wilmar were down by over 2 per cent.

According to the news report, the probe, which also involves Indian renewable energy company Azure Power Global, is being handled by the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department's fraud unit in Washington. US laws allow federal prosecutors to investigate corruption allegations outside their territory if they have certain links to investors or markets in America.

Analysts termed Monday's fall as a knee-jerk reaction and said the group stocks could gain as the conglomerate has got a clean chit from the Supreme Court in the Hindenburg Research case.

"Adani group's presence in the infrastructure sector will benefit them going forward. I am bullish on the group stocks," said Chokkalingam G, Founder of Equinomics.  

Currently, the group’s combined market cap is Rs 15.53 trillion, making it the third-most valued business group in the country after Tata and Ambani.