Adani Power shares put under short-term additional surveillance again

The Adani Power stock was again put under the short-term additional surveillance measures framework on Thursday by the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Under the ASM framework, intraday trading requires a 100% upfront margin.

This comes days after the NSE moved three Adani Group stocks—Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Wilmar— out of short-term additional surveillance measures framework last week. The three stocks were added to the short-term ASM framework on March 8.

The parameters for shortlisting securities under ASM include high-low variation, client concentration, number of price band hits, close-to-close price variation and price-earning ratio.

"Applicable rate of margin shall be 50 per cent or existing margin whichever is higher, subject to maximum rate of margin capped at 100 per cent, w.e.f. March 24, 2023 on all open positions as on March 23, 2023 and new positions created from March 24, 2023," the bourses said.

Reacting to the development, shares of Adani Power jumped as much as 2% to ₹211.40 apiece on the NSE.

The move also comes close on the heels of the two bourses moving Adani group stocks—Adani Green Energy and NDTV—from the second stage of the long-term ASM framework to Stage I on Monday.

Meanwhile, Gautam Adani-led Adani Group last week said that Vinod Adani is an immediate relative of the individual promoters of various listed entities within the Adani group. As per the applicable Indian regulations, Vinod Adani is part of the "promoter group" of various listed entities within the Adani group, the ports-to-power conglomerate said in a stock exchange filing.

The Ahmedabad-based company said this fact has been submitted to Indian regulatory authorities from time to time in various disclosures. The fact that Endeavour Trade and Investment Limited (an entity controlled by Vinod Adani), the acquirer of ACC and Ambuja Cements, belongs to the Adani Group has been disclosed in the public offer document dated August 19, 2022 on page 22, it said.

The clarification came after news portal The Morning Context reported that the Adani group does not own Ambuja Cements and ACC and the two cement companies are owned by entities controlled by Vinod Adani.

Earlier in March, the Supreme Court directed market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) to conclude its probe in the Adani-Hindenburg case within two months. The apex court also constituted an expert committee headed by retired judge, Justice AM Sapre, to examine alleged violation of market laws by Adani Group and other listed companies. The panel comprises former SBI chairman OP Bhatt, Justice JP Devdatt, veteran banker KV Kamath, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan.

The panel will provide an overall assessment of the situation including the relevant causal factors which have led to the volatility in the securities market in the recent past. The committee will investigate whether there has been a regulatory failure in dealing with the alleged violation of laws pertaining to the securities market. It will also suggest measures to strengthen investor awareness and the statutory and regulatory framework. The committee has been asked to submit its report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover within two months.