TRIAL BY FIRE

For Gautam Adani, 60, chairman of the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, the nightmare is far from over.

- By M.G. Arun

Shares of the group companies were hit massively following accusations of market manipulation and money-laundering by US-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research. The episode also sent Indian bourses crashing. The Sensex and the Nifty fell 874.16 points and 287.60 points, respectively, on January 27the biggest fall in the indices in four months.

The markets, however, regained their composure on January 30, after the Adani Group issued a 417-page rebuttal to the Hindenburg report. But the damage was done. In just three trading sessions, 29 per cent of the Adani Group's market capitalisation, or about Rs 5.6 lakh crore, was wiped out. The fall in group stocks continued on February 1, even as the finance minister was presenting the Union budget, with Adani Enterprises shares alone plunging 30 per cent. This was after media reports claimed Credit Suisse had stopped accepting bonds of Adani companies as collateral for margin loans to private banking clients. From being the world's third-richest days ago, Adani was pushed to the 15th spot, with a net worth of $75.1 billion (about Rs 6.2 lakh crore) as per the Forbes real-time rich list on February 1, also behind Mukesh Ambani, who reclaimed his position as India's richest, with a wealth of $83.7 billion (about Rs 6.86 lakh crore).