SEBI Dismisses Hindenburg Report, Clears Adani Group

The Hindenburg Research report is baseless. This is what the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the stock market regulatory body, has concluded. India’s leading industrial group, Adani, has now received a clean chit from SEBI. In January 2023, the U.S.-based short-selling firm Hindenburg made sensational allegations that large-scale irregularities had taken place in Adani Group companies and that the share prices of some companies were artificially inflated. At that time, this created major tremors not only in the stock market but also in the country’s corporate sector. It is well known that after the Hindenburg Research report came out, the market capitalization of Adani Group companies collapsed on a massive scale. Particularly, Adani’s flagship companies like Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Ports and SEZ shares suffered huge losses when this report was released. Some people even approached the Supreme Court then, seeking a SIT probe into the allegations against Adani Group companies.

However, the Supreme Court had already made it clear earlier that SEBI’s inquiry was sufficient and that there was no need for a SIT probe in this matter. Now SEBI has stated that the Hindenburg report is unfounded. At the same time, it gave a clean chit to Adani Group companies. The allegations against Gautam Adani and Rajesh Adani were also dismissed. The Hindenburg report had mainly alleged insider trading, market manipulation, and violations of public shareholding norms in its findings. SEBI has said that none of these allegations were proven and that there was no evidence of violations of SEBI regulations.

At the same time, SEBI concluded that the group companies did not follow any unfair trade practices. Therefore, there is no need to impose any penalty on the Adani Group or its companies, it said. Another noteworthy point here is that Hindenburg, which made sensational allegations against Adani Group companies, wound up its operations earlier this year. Now, the points raised in that report have also become irrelevant. Responding on social media to the SEBI report, Adani Group chief Gautam Adani said that those who made false allegations against them should apologize to the nation. He said they had been saying from the beginning that the Hindenburg report was wrong, and now it has been proven true.