Hindenburg report on SEBI chief amounts to another hit job, say economists and experts

New Delhi: The latest report by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research taking a shot at SEBI chief has been rubbished by economists as well as financial experts as baseless, mala-fide and motivated.

Some of the country’s leading financial experts said that the report is based on conjectures and speculations and lacks solid proof and its main purpose is to ‘book profits’ at the expense of Indian stock markets.

KV Subramanian, a former Chief Economic Advisor of India, took to X and said that he vouched for the ‘unimpeachable integrity’ of SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and that the Hindenburg report lacked ‘intellectual rigour’.

"I've personally known SEBI Chairperson Madhabi for about two decades. Given her unimpeachable integrity and her intellectual prowess, I'm sure she will shred to smithereens this Hindenberg’s hit job," wrote Subramanian, who is currently Executive Director with IMF.

Kishore Subramanian, a leading financial expert, said that the report looks devoid of any evidence and banks on accusations and allegations to prove its point.

“The use of words like… ‘we think, maybe’ shows that the report is based on conjectures and speculations and not on solid evidence,” he said.

“By releasing a report bereft of truth, Hindenburg has delivered yet another hit job. The claims are unsubstantiated and will remain untenable in the court of law,” he added.

He also said that the motive of a US-based short-seller is to create commotion and disturbance in Indian markets and benefit itself financially as it did in previous instances.

“There appears only one aim of Hindenburg -- is to spread fear and panic among investors with its smear campaign. It wants to trigger freefall in stock markets, destabilise the economy and in turn make money,” the financial expert said.

He further urged investors not to believe in hearsay, as spread by the US-based short-seller and asked people to frame their own opinion by reading the report which is in the public domain.

Ajay Rotti, Tax Compass founder, also saw an underlying motive in the report and said that it was a brazen attempt to bring the Indian markets down.

“This report has been published just to divert attention from the scrutiny of Hindenburg themselves and their short trade.... the report calls the SEBI show-cause to them as "apparent show cause notice". Their earlier report had no impact on the markets after the initial fall... the Supreme Court found nothing wrong in the previous allegation in 2023. Hence, another attempt to make money while shorting!” he wrote on X.

Earlier in the day, SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval also rebutted the report and termed it an attempt at "character assassination" in response to SEBI's action against the Hindenburg.