As SC pronounces verdict in Adani-Hindenburg case, the story so far

Here is a timeline of the Adani-Hindenburg case:

📌 On January 24, 2023, a US-based investor research firm Hindenburg Research accused billionaire Gautam Adani-led conglomerate of stock manipulation and accounting fraud schemes over decades.

📌 The report was titled — How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History’ — alleging improper use of tax havens and flagged concerns about the Adani Companies’ debt levels.

📌 The research firm which specialises in short-selling had short positions in Adani companies through US-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments.

📌 It said that Adani’s listed companies experienced several changes in their chief financial officers (CFOs). Additionally, they noted that the group employed relatively lesser-known auditors. They specifically pointed out that Adani Enterprises had five CFOs within eight years, considering this a significant indicator of possible accounting concerns.

📌 After the report came out, the stocks of all nine companies of the Adani group plunged with market losses swelling to over USD 100 billion.

📌 On January 31 last year Corporates and foreign investors bail out the Rs 20,000-crore FPO of Adani Enterprises amid the volatility in the stock market and crash in Adani Group shares.

📌 Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) decided to call off $2.5 billion share sale and said that it would refund the money to the investors.

📌 From being the 3rd richest man in the world, Gautam Adani slipped to the 15th spot on the Forbes Billionaires List.

📌 The Adani group in turn called the report baseless and termed the allegations “unsubstantiated speculations”.

📌 In a 413-page response, the Adani Group said, “This is not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India.”
“It is tremendously concerning that the statements of an entity sitting thousands of miles away, with no credibility or ethics has caused serious and unprecedented adverse impact on our investors,” the Adani Group said.

📌 Hindenburg in its rebuttal said that instead of responding on substantive points of its report Adani “stoked a nationalist narrative” that seeked to conflate the “meteoric rise and the wealth of its chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself”.

📌 In February the Credit Suisse Group AG stopped accepting bonds of Gautam Adani’s group of companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients.

📌 The Adani storm also reached theParliament with Opposition joining hands to demand a probe either by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), headed by the Supreme Court or monitored by the Chief Justice of India, into the allegations of fraud and stock manipulation.

📌 On February 14 the SEBI wrote to the Supreme Court, saying it is “already inquiring into both, the allegations made in the Hindenburg report as well as the market activity immediately preceding and post the publication of the report, to identify violations of SEBI Regulations…” including those related to short selling.

📌 On March 2, the Supreme Court consolidated multiple public interest litigations (PILs) related to the Adani-Hindenburg saga into a single case.

📌 The apex court also constituted a six-member committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge Abhay Manohar Sapre to investigate and examine if there was any regulatory failure in the matter.

📌 The Securities and Exchange Board of India was also directed to probe into the allegations against the Adani group and was given two months to complete the probe.

📌 The report of the expert committee which came out on May 6 stated that there was no evidence of a “regulatory failure” on the part of markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

📌 On April 29 SEBI moved to the Supreme Court asking for a six-month extension to complete its probe citing the “complexity of the matter” and the “interest of justice.”

📌 In May, the Supreme Court gives SEBI time till August 14 to complete its probe.

📌 On May 19 The expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate Hindenburg Research’s claims against the Adani Group said that there was no evidence of a “regulatory failure” on the part of markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

📌 The market regulator, on August 14, requested a 15-day extension from the Supreme Court to conclude its investigation and submit a status report on its probe into the Hindenburg report concerning the Adani group.

📌 On August 25, SEBI submitted a crucial status report to the SC stating that it had completed the investigation of 22 out of the 24 transactions it was probing in the Adani matter.

📌 On November 24, SC reserves its verdict on a batch of pleas concerning the Adani-Hindenburg row on allegations of stock price manipulation.

📌 Today, the apex court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Indian corporate giant to a special investigation team and directed market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three months.

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