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Hindenburg report wasn't simply an attack on Adani Group, Gautam Adani claims
What was meant to weaken us has instead strengthened the very core of our foundations, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani says in a letter to shareholders.
Hindenburg Research didn't just target Adani Group but India Inc. as a whole, Gautam Adani said on Wednesday, even as he hailed a SEBI reprieve to his conglomerate in the matter.
“The report was not merely a critique of your Adani Group. It was a direct challenge to the audacity of Indian enterprises to dream on a global scale,” the billionaire founder of the ports-to-power conglomerate said in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday.
“For your Adani Group, it marked the beginning of a test that pushed every dimension of our resilience. It questioned our governance, our purpose and even the very idea that Indian companies could dare lead the world in scale and ambition.”
SEBI Order In Adani-Hindenburg Case
On 18 September, the Securities and Exchange Board of India cleared the Adani Group and Gautam Adani of some allegations of impropriety raised by the now-defunct US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in early 2023.
Two allegations—one of stock manipulation and the other on non-disclosure of non-disclosure of related-party transactions—were cleared.
“With SEBI’s clear and final word, truth has prevailed or like we had always said ‘Satyameva Jayate’ (truth alone will prevail),” Gautam Adani went on to say in the letter. “What was meant to weaken us has instead strengthened the very core of our foundations.”
To be sure, at least a dozen more allegations of improriety are pending before India's market regulator, Reuters reported on 19 September.
Those cases included allegations that Adani Enterprises Ltd., Adani Ports Ltd., Adani Energy Ltd. and Adani Power Ltd. had wrongfully categorised certain shareholders as public, the sources said. These Adani Group companies had in their latest financial statements said that SEBI was looking into the wrongful categorisation allegations.
In April, Reuters had reported that around 30 Adani Group firms had applied to settle some of these regulatory changes.
ALSO READ | The Adani-Hindenburg Saga Is Far From Over
Adani Group Since Hindenburg
Gautam Adani then went on to tout how his business has grown since the Hindenburg allegations first came to light.
According to his letter to shareholders, Adani Group has clocked a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 25% in operational profitability—from ₹57,205 crore in FY23 to ₹89,804 crore in FY25. In absolute terms, that's higher by about 57%.
Over the same time, the conglomerate has commissioned India's first trans-shipment port in Vizhinjam, added 6 GW of renewable energy in Khavda, Gujarat, and commissioned the world's largest copper smelter in Kutch.
ALSO READ | Adani Group Is On A Five-Year Quest For Deleveraging
“What was intended to hurt us has instead become a defining inflection point by fortifying our foundations…,” Gautam Adani said in the letter. “It was your trust that steadied us, your patience that sustained us and your belief that emboldened us. For this extraordinary support, I am profoundly grateful.”
