Adani-Hindenburg fallout: What you need to know today

“This is in continuation of promoters’ assurance to pre-pay all share-backed financing,” it said.

The report by Hindenburg Research, a US-based investment firm that accused the Adani Group of “stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, has triggered a steep fall in the share prices of group firms. The Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

Majority of Adani group firms end lower

Shares of most of the Adani group firms ended lower on Monday, with the group companies’ combined market cap witnessing a sharp fall of Rs 9.5 lakh crore.

At the end of Monday’s trading session, six of the 10 Adani group companies ended in the negative territory, with Adani Transmission slipping 10 per cent, while the shares of Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy and Adani Wilmar declined 5 per cent each.

Shares of Adani Enterprises closed for the day at Rs 1,572.40, down 0.74 per cent over its previous close.

Congress holds nationwide protests; Parliament proceedings remain stalled

Stepping up its attack on the government over the Adani-Hindenburg row, the Congress on Monday held a nationwide protest and stalled proceedings in both houses of Parliament along with other opposition parties for the third day in a row, demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

The Opposition created uproar in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, leading to their adjournment for the day without transacting any business, thus stalling the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.

Leaders of as many as 17 opposition parties also staged a protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament complex in the morning and raised slogans against the government while demanding a discussion in both houses. Members of the Opposition raised “Adani sarkar” slogans and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations against the group.

While Congress workers staged a protest outside the State Bank of India office in Hyderabad, hundreds of Congress workers, led by senior party leaders Vikar Rasool and working president Raman Bhalla, took out a rally in Jammu. Protesters in Jammu clashed with the police, with some of them trying to break the barricade to march forward. Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said the issue of “investment” of public money through the LIC and SBI into the Adani Group is a matter of serious concern and the Modi government has been “evading” questions in Parliament.

NSUI, the student wing of Congress, held a protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Some protesters burnt a suitcase with an SBI logo on it.

The Opposition parties also staged a protest near the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex. DMK, NCP, BRS, JD(U), SP, CPM, CPI, JMM, RLD, RSP, AAP, IUML, RJD, and Shiv Sena were among the parties that participated in a meeting held by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to chalk out a strategy on the Adani row and other issues.

SEBI sees unusual fluctuation in stocks

Earlier on Saturday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said that it was committed to ensuring an orderly and efficient functioning of the market, and that surveillance measures have been put in place to address the excessive volatility in specific individual stocks.

Without naming the Adani Group, the market watchdog said in a statement that there has been an “unusual price movement observed in stocks of a business conglomerate”, while adding that all surveillance measures have been taken to address the issue.

Nirmala Sitharaman says country’s economy image not affected

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India’s macro fundamentals and image are not affected due to the row.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Siharaman said, “Our macroeconomic fundamentals, the image of our economy, none of it has been affected. The fact that we have had 8 billion dollars of foreign exchange reserve growth during last two days shows that perception of India and its inherent strength is intact.”

“How many times have FPOs not withdrawn from this country and how many times has the image of India been suffering because of that and how many times have FPOs not come back?,” she asked.

The minister said there are “fluctuations” in every market but the accretion over the last few days establishes the fact that the perception of both India and its inherent strengths is intact.