Adani stocks surge up to 20% after SC hearing; m-cap crosses ₹11 lakh cr mark

Shares of all 10 Adani group companies witnessed surge in buying on Tuesday, rallying up to 20% intraday after the Supreme Court (SC) last week concluded hearings of the Adani-Hindenburg case. The apex court has reserved its judgment on several petitions demanding a court-monitored probe into the allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation made by U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research. Meanwhile, the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) informed the court that it did not require additional time to complete its investigation into the matter.

The total market capitalisation of Adani group increased to ₹11.3 lakh crore amid broad-based rally in billionaire Gautam Adani-controlled stocks, led by Adani Total Gas, which touched its 20% upper circuit limit. Shares of Adani Energy Solutions jumped over 19% intraday, while Adani Power gained 17% to hit its fresh 52-week high.

The group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises, NDTV, Adani Green Energy rallied up to 17%, while Adani Wilmar and Adani Ports & SEZ between 5-10%. Among others, cement stocks ACC and Ambuja Cements climbed up to 5%.

Adani group stocks got a lift after the Supreme Court hearing on Adani-Hindenburg case, which indicated that the three-judge panel, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, didn’t found no reason to doubt capital market regulator’s SEBI investigation into Hindenburg Research's allegations of stock manipulation.

The court said that the court cannot treat Hindenburg's report as “true state of affairs”, and that is why we asked the SEBI to probe into the matter. "We don't have to treat the Hindenburg report as being a statement of truth. There is no means of testing the veracity of the Hindenburg report and hence asked Sebi to probe," it said.

After Hindenburg Research released an adverse report against the Adani Group on January 24, the Supreme Court on March 2, 2023, set up a six-member expert committee “to investigate if there was a regulatory failure in dealing with the alleged contravention of laws pertaining to the securities market in relation to the Adani Group or other companies.”

Hindenburg Research, in its detailed report, alleged the port-to-power conglomerate had engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades. “Gautam Adani, Founder, and Chairman of the Adani Group, has amassed a net worth of roughly $120 billion, adding over $100 billion in the past 3 years largely through stock price appreciation in the group’s 7 key listed companies, which have spiked an average of 819% in that period,” the report highlighted.

However, Adani Group strongly refuted the claims made in the Hindenburg report and said it was an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the conglomerate.

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