Adani Group Stocks Surge Following SEBI Clean Chit in Hindenburg Probe

New Delhi: Shares of Adani Group companies experienced a strong rally on Friday, with Adani Power surging more than 12 percent after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) cleared billionaire Gautam Adani and his conglomerate of stock manipulation allegations raised by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Adani Power soared 12.40 percent, reaching its 52-week high during the day, while other key stocks also posted significant gains. Adani Total Gas jumped 7.35 percent, Adani Green Energy rose 5.33 percent, and Adani Enterprises Ltd climbed 5.04 percent.

Additionally, shares of NDTV gained 4.98 percent, Adani Energy Solutions surged 4.70 percent, and Sanghi Industries advanced 1.41 percent. Other Adani Group stocks, including ACC, Adani Ports, and Ambuja Cements, also saw marginal increases.

The rally was fueled by renewed investor confidence after SEBI’s ruling, which found no evidence to support the claims made by Hindenburg Research. The market value of the group’s listed companies stood at ₹13.96 lakh crore as of Friday's close.

Bajaj Broking Research noted, "The surge in Adani Group stocks follows SEBI's decision to clear the conglomerate in the Hindenburg probe, triggering a wave of strong buying interest."

In a significant boost to Adani, SEBI’s decision, issued Thursday, concluded that there was no basis for the allegations of insider trading, market manipulation, or violations of public shareholding norms. The probe found that transactions involving fund transfers between Adani Group companies did not violate any regulations.

Hindenburg Research had published a report in January 2023, accusing Adani Group of using certain shell companies—Adicorp Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Milestone Tradelinks Pvt Ltd, and Rehvar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd—to route funds to publicly listed entities like Adani Power Ltd and Adani Enterprises Ltd. The report claimed that these transactions were part of a scheme to manipulate stock prices and evade disclosure requirements.

However, SEBI’s investigation concluded that the fund transfers were legitimate loans, which were repaid with interest. These transactions, according to SEBI, did not meet the criteria for "related party transactions" that require disclosure under market regulations. The board member overseeing the investigation, Kamlesh C. Varshney, stated that no violations were found regarding the substantial acquisition of securities or control, and no evidence was found to suggest that investors had been misled.

In a statement responding to the SEBI decision, Adani Group called for an apology from those who propagated "false narratives" based on Hindenburg’s "fraudulent and motivated" report. The billionaire industrialist posted a message on social media platform X, accompanied by the national tricolour, asserting that the SEBI ruling reaffirmed the group’s stance that the Hindenburg claims were baseless.

The positive market reaction and the SEBI clean chit have provided a significant boost to investor sentiment in the Adani Group, which had faced intense scrutiny since the Hindenburg allegations surfaced earlier this year.

As of the market close on Friday, Adani Group stocks continued their strong performance, signaling a potential rebound in investor confidence moving forward.