“We believe India is a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future. We also believe India’s future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag,” stated Hindenburg Research in its sharp reply to Gautam Adani-led corporate group.

On Sunday, team Adani had called the expose a “calculated attack on India,” the company asserted t the same time that it was “not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company” it said it was an “attack” on the “independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India.”

Its statement maintained that even though it was “under no obligation whatsoever to respond to these baseless allegations made in the report, in the spirit of good governance, transparency to our stakeholders and to avoid false market, we provide our responses to the Report as also the “88 questions” raised in the report.”

What followed was a 413-page response to the questions asked by Hindenburg Research which has told Adani to walk the talk.

It did not end with the Adani group saying questions it was asked were targeting India. Adani Group's Chief Financial Officer of Jugeshinder “Robbie" Singh, went a step ahead and said the plunge in Adani stocks was akin to the colonial-era Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

He was quoted in the Mint saying in answer to a question on if he was “disconcerted by the fact that the market was ready to believe the Hindenburg report” as saying “it doesn’t surprise me. In Jallianwala Bagh, only one Englishman gave an order, and Indians fired on other Indians.

“So am I surprised by the behaviour of some fellow Indians? No. A white person gave an order that some Indians should fire is a possibility. It happened in my state, and we memorialize that day” siad Singh who hails from Punjab but is reportedly “an Australian citizen with a Person of Indian Origin card”.

Such comparisons to key milestones of Indian Freedom struggle, and Indian History has been met by sharp reactions across social media. Politicians and regular citizens alike have taken pot shots at the corporate giant.

“Modi ji is India, India is Modiji… Adani group is India, India is Adani Group… ?” tweeted Piyanka Chaturvedi, MP-Rajya Sabha,Deputy Leader-Shiv Sena who is also a member of Standing Comm-Commerce.

https://twitter.com/priyankac19/status/1619903266200125441

Her’s was one of many such voices commenting on the Adani group equating themselves to India. Journalist-turned-politician Prashant Kanojia posted how Gautam Adani had now slipped in the ‘rich ranks’. Many others posted photographs to show that Adani was close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party.

https://twitter.com/PJkanojia/status/1619976536479916037

The Hindenburg Research responded how on January 24th, they had released a report “outlining numerous issues of suspected fraud at the Adani Group, the 2nd largest conglomerate in India run by the world’s then-third richest man.”

It stated that Adani’s 413-page response, “opened with the sensationalistic claim that we are the “Madoffs of Manhattan”.It denied all accusations made by the Adani group.

According to Hindenburg the Adani Group’s response has “predictably tried to lead the focus away from substantive issues and instead stoked a nationalist narrative, claiming our report amounted to a “calculated attack on India.”

It stated that the Adani Group has attempted to conflate its meteoric rise and the wealth of its Chairman, Gautam Adani, with the success of India itself”. However Hindenburg emphasised that they disagreed, “To be clear, we believe India is a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future. We also believe India’s future is being held back by the Adani Group, which has draped itself in the Indian flag while systematically looting the nation.”

The Adani response, shared Hindenburg, has diluted its response with “details on irrelevant corporate initiatives, such as how it encourages female entrepreneurship and the production of safe vegetables.”

(Source: Page 24 of Adani’s response, before addressing our questions, which describes its initiative to produce safe to eat vegetables, shared by Hindenburg)

The short seller has claimed that “Adani Failed To Specifically Answer 62 of Our 88 Questions.”

“Our report alleged that Adani group has engaged in billions of U.S. dollars in suspicious dealings with its chairman’s brother, Vinod Adani, and his labyrinth of offshore shell entities; these dealings raised serious questions about stock and accounting manipulation. Adani’s defense: Vinod Adani, brother to the chairman, is not a related party to the group and there are no disclosable conflicts relating to this web of opaque transactions”

It hit out at the group’s responses on Vinod Adani, and stated that it showed that “we are expected to believe that Gautam Adani has no idea why his brother Vinod lent massive sums of money to Adani entities, and no idea where the money originated from. If any of that were true, Gautam could easily clear up the mystery by calling his brother, or asking him at the next family dinner, why he has been directing billions of dollars to Adani-controlled entities through a network of opaque offshore shell entities. He could also call the head of his own Family Investment Office and ask the same.”

Hindenburg added that it found it “hard to fathom that Adani is completely unaware of the repeated allegations and prosecutions associated with the manipulation of its stock.” It stated that the responses and “list of issues” will be updated “over the course of the next several days”. It concluded that “Adani’s response largely confirmed” their findings while allegedly ignoring their key questions.”

Meanwhile, according to Mint, “Adani Group stocks ended on a mixed note. Except for Adani Enterprises and cement arms share price, all other listed stocks of the group closed in the red. Adani witnessed a loss of over ₹1.53 lakh crore in market cap on Monday.”

A crucial response also came from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), on January 30. It stated that the exposure by LIC in the Adani group is less than one percent of the ‘total assets under management (AUM)’.

https://twitter.com/LICIndiaForever/status/1619997249915985920

According to an explainer by Bloomberg, “India’s largest life insurer is plowing more money into Gautam Adani’s flagship unit” and does not seem to be affected by Hindenburg’s allegations. “State-controlled Life Insurance Corp. of India is spending about 3 billion rupees ($37 million) as an anchor investor in a $2.5 billion new share sale by Adani Enterprises Ltd., according to a filing. The investment would add to its current holding of 4.23%,” reported the financial news expert.

https://twitter.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1620001346631135232

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