The Congress party has attacked the Indian conglomerate Adani Group after US-based activist investor group Hindenburg Research published a 32,000-word report against it. The investment research firm claimed that Adani Group was involved in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.”
Hindenburg Research claimed that it has conducted an investigation on the company for the last two years and that it has documents to prove its claims. Hindenburg Research Report accused Adani family members of creating and managing “a vast labyrinth of offshore shell entities” in tax havens like Mauritius, Cyprus, and the UAE. The report claimed that some of these entities were used for market manipulation.
It said Gautam Adani has a net worth of approximately $120 billion, mainly due to an 819% average stock price growth in the group’s seven most significant publicly traded companies over the last three years.
On Friday (January 27), Congress leader Jairam Ramesh launched a tirade against the Adani Group. “Hindenburg has put out a damning report on the Adani group which has reacted predictably”, he tweeted.
Hindenburg has put out a damning report on the Adani group which has reacted predictably. Here is my statement on this serious matter that requires a thorough investigation in the public interest. pic.twitter.com/gfmgmKPx4e
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) January 27, 2023
However, Congress has been supporting the Adani Group for a long time. The Indian conglomerate has obtained several projects in Rajasthan, under the governance of Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The conglomerate has outlined plans to invest Rs. 65,000 crores in Rajasthan over the next 5-7 years.
These projects consist of the development of a 10,000 MW solar power capacity, the expansion of a cement plant, and the upgrading of the Jaipur airport. Furthermore, according to an RTI, Adani Group and Reliance Industries jointly committed the largest investment under the ‘Invest Rajasthan’ program.
The companies pledged over Rs 1.68 lakh crore between December 2021 and March 2022 through Letters of Intent and Memoranda of Understanding with the government.
Adani Group had started the Mundra port in Gujarat after it was given wasteland during the Congress-backed Chimanbhai Patel government in 1993. The company had got more land during the Congress government headed by Shankersinh Vaghela in 1997. Subsequently, BJP governments under Keshubhai Patel in 1999 and Narendra Modi in 2005 gave the group more wasteland for expansion of the port.
Congress supported the Adani group in Maharashtra
During the tenure of the Maha Vikas Agadhi government, in which Congress was an alliance partner, the Adani Group was able to secure the Dighi port project in Maharashtra.
The company successfully purchased a 100% stake in Dighi Port Limited (DPL) for Rs. 705 crores with a plan to invest over Rs 10,000 crore to develop it as an alternative to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the country’s largest container port.
UDF govt awarded new Vizhinjam port contract to the conglomerate
In 2015, the government of Kerala, led by Congress, awarded the contract to develop a new port at Vizhinjam to Adani Ports. The contract was given through the use of Viability Gap Funding (VGF), as Adani Ports had submitted the lowest grant of Rs 1,635 crore in the auction.
Despite signing a deal worth Rs 7,525 crore between Adani Group and the Kerala government, the project faced several obstacles. Upon completion, the Vizhinjam port is expected to become a significant competitor to the transhipment ports of Colombo, Singapore, and Dubai.
It will be the only transhipment hub in the Indian subcontinent, situated in a strategic location on the Indian coastline and close to international shipping routes. This location makes it a central hub for shipping in the region.
It should be noted that even during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) era, the Union government had awarded the Adani Group 10 projects worth Rs 21,000 crore.
Adani Group slams Hindenburg Research report
On Wednesday (January 25), the Adani Group trashed the Hindenburg Research report as a ‘malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations’.
The Group stocks lost Rs 46,000 crores in market cap after Hindenburg claimed that the Indian giant had participated in a clear stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over decades.
While the Congress party is now using the controversial report to indirectly take potshots at the BJP, it has been at the helm of supporting the very industrialist it had been accusing of crony capitalism.
