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Congress urges RBI, SEBI for independent probe into ‘PM-blessed’ Adani case
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh shared copies of letters sent to RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, and urged them to ensure India's taxpayers are not affected by the crisis that has engulfed the Adani Group.
The Congress on Tuesday asked the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities Exchange Board of India to probe allegations public sector financial bodies like the Life Insurance Corporation and the State Bank of India are 'unusually generous' in investing in the Adani Group, and that this could destabilise the country's banking sector. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh shared copies of letters sent to RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, and urged them to ensure India's taxpayers are not affected by the crisis that has engulfed the Adani Group.
Ramesh pointed out that the Adani Group has been under excessive debt exposure and that the RBI must look into two aspects of the matter – the true exposure of the Group and kind of explicit and implicit guarantees it has by the Indian banks that will bail the Group out after its foreign funding dries up.
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“As the steward of the financial system, the RBI must do everything possible to protect India's banks and financial institutions, and we urge you to act in the national interest to ensure that India's taxpayers do not pay the price for the misgovernance and potential illegalities of one influential business house,” the letter read.
Addressing to the SEBI chairperson, Ramesh said the Group's involvement in ‘brazen stock manipulation’ violates several Indian laws and goes against what the board stands for. “Given the Adani Group's size and political connections, it is incumbent that such investigations are seen as fair and complete, with no favour shown to the influential business group,” he said.
The Congress MP further asked about LIC and SBI “heavily buying” Adani Group's equity amid most private funds being severely underweight due to concerns over corporate governance and indebtedness.
