Shares connected to the Adani Group—chaired by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani—plunged by double digits on Thursday after U.S. Law enforcement agencies accused Adani and fellow executives of paying more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials.
Adani Enterprises, the group’s flagship company, fell by over 20%. Fellow group companies Adani Green Energy and Adani Ports fell by 19% and 13% respectively.
Companies linked to Adani were hit, too. GQG Partners, an Australian-listed investment firm and the fourth-largest shareholder of Adani Enterprises, fell by almost 20% on Thursday.
Indian markets also dipped on Thursday. The NIFTY 50, which tracks the 50 largest companies on India’s National Stock Exchange, fell 0.7%. (Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports make up part of the NIFTY 50.)
The share slide has erased about $15 billion from Adani’s net worth, according to an estimate from Bloomberg. The drop has erased all of the billionaire’s wealth gains this year.
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In a statement released Thursday, the Adani Group called the U.S.’s allegations “baseless” and that it would seek “all possible legal recourse.”
“We are a law-abiding organization, fully compliant with all laws,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Adani shares on a wild ride
Adani shares have been on a wild ride since January 2023, when the U.S. Short-selling firm Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of engaging in brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
Shares plunged after the report’s release, wiping about $153 billion in market value, according to Bloomberg.
The Adani Group denied Hindenburg’s allegations, labeling them as an attempt to damage the company’s reputation and a “calculated attack on India.”
Investors soon moved on from the controversy, and Adani shares recovered throughout 2023 and 2024. Adani Enterprises shares peaked at around 3,600 Indian rupees ($42.61) in June 2024, up from a low of 1,315 rupees ($15.50) in February 2023.
In July, Hindenburg Research admitted that it only made about $4 million from its bet against the Adani Group.
But the short-seller has kept up the pressure on the Adani Group. In September Hindenburg alleged that Swiss authorities had frozen over $310 million in funds across multiple Swiss bank accounts over alleged money laundering and securities forgery investigations. The Adani Group also denied those allegations.
How important is Gautam Adani in India?
Gautam Adani, the chair of Adani Group, is one of India’s most powerful businesspeople. The Adani Group’s businesses span several sectors including aviation, maritime, railways, and energy.
Investors have tied Adani’s success to the broader Indian economy, as the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tries to build up the country’s infrastructure.
Adani is viewed as a close ally of the prime minister, with a relationship dating back to the early 2000s, when Modi served as chief minister of Gujarat state. Shares in Adani Enterprises dropped 19% in early June following India’s general election, when Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an absolute majority in the country’s legislature.
The Adani Group is involved in several major projects, both in India and overseas. The conglomerate won a contract in 2022 to redevelop the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, which could displace as many as 700,000 of the slum’s dwellers.
Adani is also bidding for green energy projects in Gelephu, a project by the Himalayan country of Bhutan to build a new city on the border with India.
And in November, soon after the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. Presidency, Adani pledged to invest $10 billion in U.S. Energy projects.
What are the U.S. Allegations against Adani?
On Wednesday, U.S. Prosecutors accused Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six other executives of a bribery scheme involving Adani subsidiaries Adani Green Energy and Azure Power.
“This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa H. Miller said in a statement.
U.S. Law enforcement officials estimated the executives raised over $2 billion in loans and bond offerings under false pretenses.
On Thursday, the Indian National Congress Party, the country’s main opposition party, asked for an investigation into Adani’s business dealings, with party leader Rahul Gandhi calling for the billionaire’s arrest.
