Adani group stocks lose $12.5 bn after US SEC move on email summons
Adani Group stocks slid sharply after a US SEC filing sought court approval to email summons to Gautam Adani, wiping out $12.5 billion in market value
 "Adani group stocks lose $12.5 bn after US SEC move on email summons")
India's Adani group firms shed $12.5 billion in market cap on Friday, after the US markets regulator asked a court for permission to personally email summons to founder Gautam Adani and group executive Sagar Adani over alleged fraud and a $265 million bribery scheme.
Reuters reported the SEC filing on Thursday after the Indian markets closed.
On Friday, the group's flagship company, Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), opens new tab, was the top percentage loser on India's benchmark Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab. While the firm's shares fell 10.65% to 1,864.2 rupees, the Nifty declined 0.95% at close.
Group shares settled down between 3.4% and 14.54%.
The US indictment, which was unsealed in November 2024, accused Adani group executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to Indian officials for buying electricity produced by Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS), opens new tab, a unit of the Adani group.
US law prohibits foreign companies that raise money from American investors from paying bribes overseas to secure business, and it also bars them from soliciting investment on the basis of false or misleading statements.
India has previously refused two requests to serve the summons which the SEC has been trying to send since last year, according to the filings.
Adani group has called the allegations "baseless" and said that it would seek "all possible legal recourse" to defend itself. It had not immediately responded to Reuters' request for comment on the latest SEC filing, dated January 21.
"Market participants assumed there's nothing pending and that the group has been cleared, so the SEC filing seems (to have come) out of the blue," said Ambareesh Baliga, an independent market analyst.
With no clear timeline for the next steps, Baliga expects the issue could linger for at least another fortnight, noting that overall market sentiment was already weak.