The Supreme Court-appointed panel has given a clean chit to Adani Group
A Supreme Court-appointed panel of experts examining India's regulatory mechanism in an investigation linked to the Hindenburg allegations has given a clean chit to the Adani Group and has said it appears there was no regulatory failure on the part of market regulator SEBI.
Many experts have said the report vindicates the Adani Group's sincere efforts in boosting investor confidence by paring down the debts raised, secured by encumbrances on their shareholding, and infusion of fresh investment into Adani stocks by buying shares worth nearly $2 billion by a private equity investor from the promoters of the Adani Group.
"I have not gone through the detailed report, but have only glimpsed through it. The only thing that remains to be clear is the ownership structure. Beyond that the report clearly says there has been no wrongdoing as far as the committee's remit. The committee's remit was not to see if there was accounting issues or not. The committee had four-five points of remit and they have examined everything. And as far as ownership is concerned, they have very clearly said they have written to 13 jurisdictions and those details are still awaited. So except that point being clarified, almost everything has been clarified. It is clear that no violation has been found as of now," JN Gupta, former executive director, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), told NDTV.
Corporate lawyer Sandeep Parekh told NDTV that the key issue was whether there was any fraud. "Even at the prima facie stage they have found no fraud... The other issue which is much more trivial but given a lot of importance is the minimum public shareholder (MPS) rules. It is a minor thing. Lots and lots of public sector companies have not been fulfilling MPS norms," Mr Parekh said.
He said the Mauritius has clearly denied the Hindenburg Research allegations of Adani Group sell companies operating there.
On opposition politicians demanding a joint parliamentary committee despite the existence of the Supreme Court-appointed expert panel, Mr Parekh said, "That's the nature of politics. They get fodder, why not use it?"
Markets expert Deven Choksey said the expert committee has given a responsibility to the SEBI to look into the allegations by Hindenburg Research. "We should also wait for SEBI to complete its probe," Mr Choksey told NDTV. "The current report doesn't have anything wrong on the Adani Group, which is good, that is what I think is more important at this point of time," Mr Choksey said.
Sanjay Asher, senior partner, Crawford Bayley and Co, said when the expert panel has done a deep dive in the matter and given a clean chit. "The Supreme Court must accept the report and complete the circle," Mr Asher said. "Everywhere... the panel has said Adani has done nothing wrong. The panic in the market happened because of the report of an outside agency," he said.