New Delhi: Less than two weeks ago, India's billionaire Gautam Adani was the fourth richest person in the world, with a personal fortune estimated at $120 billion. The self-made industrialist was wealthier than Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.
His group of companies lost $110 billion in value since then and his own wealth has been halved to little more than $61 billion as investors pulled their support, after the Hindenburg Research, an American researchers, accused him of pulling off the largest con in the corporate history.
Baseless and malicious report, claims Advani
While the Adani Group has condemned the report as “baseless” and “malicious,” investor questions about its claims linger, and the fallout is growing. Adani’s business partners and lenders are clarifying their ties to the conglomerate, while the Modi government is under pressure to launch an investigation of his business after an outcry by opposition lawmakers.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said Rahul Gandhi had said long ago that Adani's bubble will burst. Flagging Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)'s alleged loss due to investment in Adani Group, he said, “People in the country who bought Adani’s share have suffered a loss. SBI had a low percentage in Adani shares, but LIC which has common man’s money had a huge loss.”
During the pandemic, everyone in the nation had a reduction in income but some industrialists saw a rise in their market capitalization. Industry and market were closed, then how they increased their market capitalization. BJP is receiving unaccounted money,” Singh said.
The RSS, however, came out in strong support of Adani, claiming that "Indians created negative narrative against Adani." It revealed another side of the story to deny the Adani group's stock manipulation and accounting frauds.
Its mouthpiece claimed this controversy did not start on January 25 after the Hinderburg report, but it began in 2016-17 in Australia. It said an Australian NGO called Bob Brown Foundation (BBF) manages an exclusive website only to defame Indian Industrialist Adani. It publishes everything related to Adani and its group.
