Hindenburg report: KTR goes after BJP, asks who was aiding Adani group

Hyderabad: BRS working president and Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday went after the BJP-led Centre and said that there are serious questions that need to be answered by the ‘NPA’ govt on findings of the Hindenburg Report.

“There are serious questions that need to be answered by the NPA Govt on #HindenburgReport Why do LIC & SBI have such large exposure ₹77,000 Cr & ₹80,000 Crore to Adani group stocks? Who pushed them to do so? Who was aiding & abetting them in this entire episode?” he asked on Twitter.

Along with the Adani Group share pummelling on Friday, with the group losing Rs 3.37 lakh crore in aggregate market capitalisation in a single day, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the single largest non-promoter domestic shareholder in five of the largest Adani Group companies by market capitalisation, lost Rs 16,627 crore due to a drop in the value of its Adani Group holdings.

Indeed, the value of LIC’s Adani Group assets fell from Rs 72,193 crore on Tuesday to Rs 55,565 crore on Friday, a 22% drop in only two days.

Meanwhile, LIC’s share price declined 3.5 percent during the day on Friday, falling 5.3 percent in the prior two days.

What is the Hindenburg report?

Hindenburg Research, a well-known short seller in the United States, disclosed short positions in the Adani Group on Wednesday, accusing the conglomerate of the improperly wide use of businesses established in offshore tax havens and expressing worry about excessive debt levels.

The revelation, which comes just days before Adani Enterprises’ (ADEL.NS) $2.5 billion share sale, sent Adani group businesses’ shares tumbling.

It also said that seven Adani listed firms had an 85% downside on a fundamental basis because to what it dubbed ‘sky-high valuations’.

The firm published an investigative document titled ‘Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History‘ and revealed findings of their two-year investigation presenting evidence that the Rs 17.8 trillion worth Adani group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.

According to the report, Gautam Adani, the Adani Group’s founder, and chairman, has a net worth of about $120 billion, which he has increased by more than $100 billion in the last three years, primarily as a result of stock price growth in the group’s seven most important publicly traded companies, which have increased by an average of 819 percent during that time.

KT Rama Rao had also challenged the central investigative agencies including the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax Department (IT) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to probe into the Adani enterprise’s ‘scam’.

The challenge comes hours after US’s Hindenburg Research’s investigative document, alleging fraud in Adani Group’s dealings, surfaced.

KTR challenged the agencies to probe into the matter stating in a tweet “ED, CBI, IT & SEBI; Hain Dum probe Karne Ka👇??

KTR further went on to criticise mainstream and national media remarking on their ‘inefficiency’ to manifest such matters.