India’s markets regulator SEBI has settled adjudication proceedings against five Adani group companies for a combined payment of about Rs 1.5 crore. The cases involved alleged failures to disclose related-party transactions, including a transaction between a subsidiary and a related party not disclosed by Adani Enterprises in its 2012-13 annual report, and audit or limited review reports signed by firms lacking valid peer review certificates. The proceedings stemmed from SEBI’s scrutiny of governance concerns raised in a January 2023 report by Hindenburg Research, after which show-cause notices were issued in February 2024.
The companies involved are Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, AWL Agri Business (formerly Adani Wilmar), and Adani Energy Solutions. Adani Enterprises paid the largest share at about Rs 76 lakh, Adani Green Energy paid around Rs 45.5 lakh, and the remaining three paid Rs 9.75 lakh each. The firms settled the matter without admitting or denying the regulator’s findings.
The outcome drew criticism from the opposition Congress party, whose general secretary Jairam Ramesh sarcastically praised the regulator’s courage and called the payment a grand amount. The Congress has accused the government of shielding the Adani group and demanded a joint parliamentary probe into the Hindenburg allegations.