Adani stocks rise as Moody’s revises outlook on group entities to ‘stable’

In a major boost to Adani Group companies, global rating agency Moody’s on Monday upgraded the outlook for several Adani Group restricted entities and reaffirmed their ratings, citing strong operational performance, fully amortizing debt structures, and robust project frameworks.

Notably, Moody’s is the third U.S.-based rating agencies—after S&P and Fitch—to take positive rating action on billionaire Gautam Adani-led power-to-port conglomerate in the recent past.

In August, S&P Global Ratings upgraded the outlooks on several key Adani Group companies from “Negative,” citing their strong operational performance and improved access to funding. Last month, Fitch Ratings revised the outlook to “Stable” for multiple Adani Group entities, removing them from “Negative” outlooks and “Rating Watch Negative.”

The Adani Group has been under intense global scrutiny since early 2023, following a short-seller report and subsequent investigations by Indian regulators and U.S. authorities. In November 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Gautam Adani and other executives on governance-related issues, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched civil proceedings against them.

On the impact of the indictment, Moody’s said there has been “limited progress in the proceedings, and there is material uncertainty over the timing of the eventual outcome.”

Cheering the news, all Adani group stocks, barring ACC , were trading higher today, in an otherwise weak broader market. The group flagship, Adani Enterprises was the top performer, rising as much as 1.8% in the intraday.

Among others, Adani Energy Solutions , Adani Green Energy ,  Adani Total Gas , Adani Ports ,  Ambuja Cements, Sanghi Industries and NDTV gained modestly in the range of 1–3%. Bucking the trend, ACC shares dropped as much as 0.5% during the trade so far.

Meanwhile, equity market witnessed selling pressure today, with the benchmark indices – Sensex and Nifty – falling as much as 0.8% each during the session.

Moody's upgrades Adani Group firms

The U.S.-based rating agency has affirmed the senior secured ratings on two U.S. dollar bonds issued by Adani Green Energy Limited’s (AGEL) restricted groups—Adani Green Energy Restricted Group 1 (AGEL RG-1) and Adani Green Energy Limited Restricted Group 2 (AGEL RG-2). The agency has also revised the outlook on all ratings to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’.

“The outlook change to stable reflects our expectation that the two AGEL restricted groups could maintain credit profiles supportive of their respective Ba1 ratings over the next 12–18 months,” Moody’s said in its report.

The rating actions apply to AGEL RG-1, which comprises Adani Green Energy (UP) Ltd., Parampujya Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd., and Prayatna Developers Pvt. Ltd., and AGEL RG-2, which includes Wardha Solar (Maharashtra) Pvt. Ltd., Kodangal Solar Parks Pvt. Ltd., and Adani Renewable Energy (Rj) Ltd.

The agency said that an upgrade of AGEL RG-1 and AGEL RG-2 is unlikely in the absence of a sovereign rating upgrade, given the restricted groups’ exposure to government-owned utilities as key counterparties. Any future upgrade would also depend on the groups maintaining their current operating and financial performance.

Meanwhile, the agency has affirmed the Baa3 senior secured rating of Adani International Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (AICTPL) and revised the outlook to stable from negative. The revised outlook reflects Moody’s expectation that AICTPL will maintain a credit profile consistent with its Baa3 rating over the next 12–18 months.

“We expect AICTPL to report an annual debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) of 2.8–3.0 times through fiscal 2027, before a projected weakening in the metric as scheduled amortization ramps up in the final three years of the bond term,” the agency said.

Moody’s added that the rating also factors in AICTPL’s solid financial profile over the next two to three years, as well as the reserving mechanism under its financing documents, which helps cover the back-ended amortization of the rated bond.

AICTPL’s ability to meet final repayments will be supported by restrictions on dividend payouts during the last three years of the concession period, ensuring sufficient cash retention for servicing the outstanding bond.

AICTPL operates two container terminals at Mundra under a sub-concession agreement with Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ, Baa3 negative) until February 2031. The terminals have a combined handling capacity of 3.5 million TEUs and the company is jointly owned by APSEZ and Terminal Investment Limited, a majority-owned unit of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

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