Adani Enterprises AGM: Hindenburg's report an attempt to damage reputation, says Gautam Adani

The Adani Group chairman described the US-based short-seller's report as a ‘combination of targeted misinformation and discredited allegations.’

Addressing Tuesday's 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of his flagship Adani Enterprises, Gautam Adani once again accused the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research of trying to malign the company's reputation with its report, which he dubbed as a ‘combination of targeted misinformation and discredited allegations.’

Gautam Adani addressing 31st AGM of the Adani Enterprises (Image courtesy: (Twitter/Adani Group)

“This year, a US-based short-seller published a report to short our stocks, just as we were planning to launch the largest follow-on public offering in India's history,” Adani said in a video message, without naming the Nathan Anderson-founded Hindenburg.

The industrialist, who was the third-richest person in the world and the wealthiest Asian at the time of the publication of the report, further said: “The report was a combination of targeted misinformation and discredited allegations. The majority of them dating from 2004 to 2015. They were all settled by authorities at that time. It was a deliberate and malicious attempt aimed at damaging our reputation.”

In the report, published in January, Hindenburg accused the Adani Group of carrying out the ‘largest con in corporate history,’ a charge which the latter, and its billionaire founder, has repeatedly denied. In India, the allegations triggered a major political storm, with opposition parties unitedly seeking probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC), and questioning the ‘silence’ of prime minister Narendra Modi for allegedly favouring Adani: both are from the same state (Gujarat) and have known each other.

On the other hand, the government has repeatedly turned down the opposition's demand for a JPC, and also rejected the latter's charge of ‘favouring’ the businessman. The issue is being probed separately by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee.

Meanwhile, Adani, who has seen a significant decline in his net worth, has since slipped behind countryman and Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani, and China's Zhong Shanshan, among the richest in Asia.