TBA Opinion

The Adani Conundrum: Why is the Modi Govt silent on Adani’s stock manipulation? 

The Hindenburg Report literally tore apart the political narrative in India to one that has been brewing for quite sometime in the background. What gave a steel appeal to the Narendra Modi government and put Gautam Adani, the industrialist, as India’s growing face and 3rd richest man in the world, came falling like a pack of cards. 

So, what exactly happened with Adani Group’s alleged fraud and why is it termed the “largest corporate con in history”? What is happening to India’s image and how is it affecting the BJP government at the Centre? Let’s have a look.  

  • Gautam Adani has always been seen as a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Belonging to the same state, their relationship is well-known to people of this country. That also created speculation of how Adani’s control over the Modi government gave away a lot of investments and business deals to the Group. This led him to become the 3rd richest man in the world with a net worth of $120 billion. 
  • As a result of the Hindenburg report on how the Adani group indulged in fraud in the share market stock manipulation, the company’s net worth fell to half, which is $60 billion and still going down. 
  • Adani Group is known to have taken lakhs of crores in debt from banks which has been waived off by the Modi government, pulling government banks down and increasing their NPAs, by losing millions in taxpayers’ money. The Group has also bent rules and broken corporate laws, without respecting India’s institutions and weakening them further. 
  • From pollution disasters to seizing land from vulnerable communities in India, working with a military dictatorship in Myanmar and bankrupting traditional owners in Australia, the Adani Group is allegedly involved in dodgy and dangerous practices across the world. “They are the way they do business,” alleges the StopAdani movement, which is a people-driven movement against the Group.
  • According to a report, Adani’s unscrupulous practices in India and links to corporate tax havens in the Cayman and British Virgin Islands were exposed in a detailed investigation by ABC’s Four Corners, building on an investigative report linking Adani with corruption investigations, fraud allegations, pollution incidents, mistreatment of local communities, deaths at work sites, and exploitation of workers.
  • Additionally, the Group is also caught out in court exaggerating the benefits of their coal project, admitting it would create 1464 jobs not the 10,000 promised and $4.8 billion not $22 billion in royalties.

Not just these, but the Group is accused of many human rights and environmental rights violations, apart from bending laws in various countries. There are also several people-driven movements which are raising their voices against the Corporation’s ugly practices in business. 

Given how the skeletons are falling out of the Adani Group’s closet, the question now is, can the Modi government protect Adanis anymore in the garb of nationalism? The answer is open to the dynamic fall and changes we are witnessing as a result of the Adani Group’s alleged fraud! 

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Tejaswini Pagadala

Communications Consultant: TEJASWINI PAGADALA is an independent communications consultant. She has previously worked with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office as the Communications Officer where she has written English speeches for the CM, managed English media communication from the CMO and handled social media accounts of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the Government.
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