Adani group stocks zoom up to 15% as SC refuses to transfer SEBI probe to SIT

Shares of Adani group companies rallied over 15% on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to transfer the probe being carried out by the capital markets regulator SEBI into the allegations in the US-based short seller Hindenburg's report, to a separate special investigation team (SIT).

The apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, in its observation, says the "power of this court to enter the regulatory framework of SEBI is limited".

It also adds that there's no "ground" to transfer the case from SEBI to SIT.

The apex court, however, asked the markets regulator to complete its probe into the Hindenburg's allegations in the next three months. On the need to strengthen the regulatory framework, the SC has told the Centre and SEBI to consider recommendations made by a court-appointed panel.

Chairman of the ports-to-energy conglomerate, Gautam Adani reacted to the court judgement, saying truth has prevailed. "The Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgement shows that: Truth has prevailed. Satyameva Jayate. I am grateful to those who stood by us. Our humble contribution to India's growth story will continue. Jai Hind," he says on microblogging platform X.

The current observation by India's Supreme Court with regards to the much-hyped Hindenburg report comes about a month after the U.S. government's development finance institution, International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), termed Hindenburg's allegations against the Gautam Adani-led group as "irrelevant".

Buoyed by the latest development, shares of Adani group stocks --Adani Enterprises, Adani Green, Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, Adani Wilmar, NDTV, ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements, surged up to 15% during the intra-day trade before cooling off a bit and settling in green. This is in contrast with broader Sensex and Nifty indexes, which are down 0.47% and 0.44%, respectively, today.

Among all the group stocks, shares of Adani Total Gas are currently trading the highest at 7.2%, followed by Adani Green at 5.58% and Adani Wilmar at 4.47%.

During the intra-day trade, shares of the group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises surged as high as 8.3% to hit the day's high at ₹3,199.45 on the BSE, taking its m-cap to ₹3,43,111 crore.

Overall, shares of Adani Energy Solutions surged as high as 15% during the intra-day trade before settling at ₹1,164.50, up 9.77% on the BSE. At the time of filing of the report, other group stocks Adani Ports (up 1.3%), Adani Power (3.1%), Ambuja Cement (1%), and NDTV (4.1%), all were trading in the green.

An adverse report by Hindenburg in January 2023 alleged the group had engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades. However, from the start, the Adani group categorically rejected these "recycled allegations". It said these were based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over-invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).