Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest man and India’s third-richest man, has seen his wealth plunge by $28 billion in the first month of 2021.[0] This has knocked him out of 4th place on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index to seventh place and sparked a $51 billion sell-off in shares of Adani group companies.[1]
It all began last week when a report from Hindenburg Research on Adani’s business empire was released, accusing it of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades” and taking a short position in the Adani Group’s companies, meaning it would benefit from a drop in their value.[2] Hindenburg asserted that the collective companies of Adani were priced too highly on India’s stock exchange by over 80 percent.[2]
Adani Group’s chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh called the report a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless, and discredited allegations”.[3] Adani has also questioned Hindenburg’s credentials and the timing of the report, arguing that the report is not just an “unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India”.[4]
Hindenburg responded on Sunday, denying any wrongdoing and accusing Adani of using patriotic ties to avoid addressing serious issues. It said Adani’s response ignored all its key allegations and was “obfuscated by nationalism” and “conflicted its meteoric rise and the wealth of its Chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself.”[5]
Adani Group has since said that it is evaluating legal action against Hindenburg, saying that the report created “volatility in Indian stock markets” that was “of great concern and has led to unwanted anguish for Indian citizens.”[3]
Hindenburg Research, a renowned short-seller, is speculating a short-term fall in the values of these stocks.[6] Adani, who is seen as a close ally of India’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi, has seen his group companies lose over $50 billion in market capitalization and his rank on the Forbes rich list drop to the eighth spot since the publication of Hindenburg’s report.[7]
0. “Bill Ackman warns banks face ‘liability exposure’ from Adani share sale” Markets Insider, 30 Jan. 2023, https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/adani-group-share-sale-bill-ackman-banks-liability-exposure-2023-1
1. “Gautam Adani is no longer one of the top 5 richest people in the world” Markets Insider, 30 Jan. 2023, https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gautam-adani-net-worth-billionaire-world-richest-list-hindenburg-shortseller-2023-1
2. “Short seller Nate Anderson goes after the Adani Group, his biggest target yet” The Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/01/28/adani-hindenburg-anderson-short-selling
3. “Gautam Adani Accused of ‘Largest Con in Corporate History’ | Time” TIME, 25 Jan. 2023, https://time.com/6250052/adani-hindenburg-fraud/
4. “Who is India’s Adani and why is his company tanking?” CNA, 30 Jan. 2023, https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/india-gautam-adani-group-hindenburg-report-accounting-fraud-3242131
5. “Adani slams US short seller ‘attack on India’ as stock rout hits $70 billion” CNN, 30 Jan. 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/investing/india-adani-rebuttal-hindenburg-allegations-intl-hnk/index.html
6. “‘Adani Group is a man-made disaster in the making’” Rediff.com, 27 Jan. 2023, https://www.rediff.com/money/report/adani-group-is-a-man-made-disaster-in-the-making/20230127.htm
7. “The Collateral: Crash hits Govt-owned LIC hard, its Adani share value dips 22%” The Indian Express, 27 Jan. 2023, https://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/the-collateral-crash-hits-govt-owned-lic-hard-its-adani-share-value-dips-22-8408630/