Adani Group Stocks Down 20%; Gautam Adani Indicted in US Over Bribery Charges

Shares of Adani Group tanked by almost 20% during Thursday's (21 November) trading session after its chairman Gautam Adani was accused by New York federal court over his alleged involvement in defrauding officials and extensive bribery.

The 62-year old billionaire along with seven other defendants have been accused of paying bribes to the Indian government officials to the tune of $250 million. This was reportedly being done to procure solar energy contracts, which could generate more than $2 billion in profits.

While Adani Enterprises and Adani Green Energy fell by 10% and 17.28% respectively, Adani Power and Adani Ports dropped by 13.81% and 10%. Meanwhile, Adani Wilmar and Adani Energy lost their sheen by 7.87% and 20%. Overall, Nifty 50 slipped by 0.63% in its first hour of trade.

Two executives from Adani Green Energy Limited including Gautam Adani’s nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain have been charged for misleading U.S. and international investors regarding the company's adherence to antibribery and anticorruption standards. As per the prosecutor, Jaain raised $3 billion to finance energy projects.

Currently, Adani Green Energy won’t be raising funds via U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, Reuters reported.

David Riedel, president and founder of Riedel Research Group said, “These are very serious charges.” He added, “They’ll certainly be cut off from the U.S. markets.”

The District Court in Brooklyn also named Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of the renewable energy firm Azure Power Global, along with three former employees of the Canadian institutional investor Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, which includes Saurabh Agarwal, Cyril Cabanes, and Deepak Malhotra.

Previously, Adani Group was accused by Hindenburg Research for indulging in stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The report wiped out nearly $150 billion from the group’s market share.