"Malicious Campaign To Tarnish Image": Adani Group Slams Financial Times

The Adani Group today slammed the UK-based newspaper Financial Times' for "raking up an old, baseless allegation of over-invoicing of coal imports". The group accused it of a "malicious campaign to drag down its market value and tarnish its reputation".

It said that "having failed earlier", the Financial Times is "making another effort to financially destabilise the Adani Group.

"Continuing their relentless campaign, the next attack is being fronted by Dan McCrum of the Financial Times, who jointly with the OCCRP put out a false narrative against the Adani Group on 31 August 2023. The OCCRP is funded by George Soros, who has openly declared his hostility against the Adani Group," the statement said.

"The group also said that "It is not mere coincidence that such stories have an uncanny ability to appear just before the hearing dates of important cases in India's courts."

The Adani Group, while denying all such allegations as "false and baseless", condemned such "deliberate, and motivated attempts to destabilise" it. "We are a law-abiding company which is fully compliant with all rules, regulations and disclosure requirements with full respect for the rule of law," the group said in a statement.

This is part of their extended campaign to advance vested interests under the guise of public interest, it said.

It said the proposed story by the publication is based on the DRI's General Alert Circular dated March 30, 2016.

However, the publication has "singled out the Adani Group, while the DRI's circular mentions as many as 40 importers including the Adani Group companies," the statement said.

The Customs, Excise and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) had however quashed the case. DRI went in for an appeal but the Supreme Court this year dismissed its petition.

In the statement, the Adani Group said the DRI's show cause notice alleging over-valuation in the import of coal was dismissed by the appellate tribunal (CESTAT).

"The FT's proposed storyline is a clever recycling and selective misrepresentation of publicly available facts and information with a deliberate and mischievous suppression of judicial decisions to arrive at a predetermined conclusion. It shows scant respect for India's regulatory and judicial processes and authorities. It also deliberately ignores the fact that coal procurement in India on a long-term supply basis is done through an open, transparent, global bidding process thereby eliminating any possibility of price manipulation."

Tariff fixation by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is an open, transparent, independent process where the tariffs are fixed after carefully evaluating all variables and in consultations with the power generator, distributor and retail consumers, it said, adding the multiple stakeholders have multiple opportunities to look at all aspects determining the tariffs, including the import value of coal.

"Hence the question of over-invoicing or price manipulation does not arise," it added.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)