Gautam Adani Not A Con

Gautam Adani’s life is a story of rags to riches. A college dropout, who survived two life threatening events, went to become world’s third richest man from the unassuming son of a modest textile trading family. In his way to success he did not play acon game as many claim.

- Krishna Kumar Mishra

The beleaguered Adani Group has lost more than Rs 12 lakh crore or roughly USD 144 billion in market value in last one month after Hindenburg Research Report was released on January 24, 2022. To give our readers a perspective of this loss: there were only 56 countries globally at the end of 2022, who had their GDP greater than the loss Adani group of companies suffered in last one month. A country like Kuwait, one of the richest nations with per capital GDP greater than USD 60000, too has national GDP of USD 123 billion.

Hindenburg Research, a US based financial forensic firm and investing group that specializes in targeting and shorting companies, believes that the Adani Group companies have dubious accounting and business practices. The research company alleged that Asia’s richest person is involved in a massive and “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud scheme.” The report further alleged that the USD 218 billion (when the report came) conglomerate was “pulling the largest con in corporate history.”

This US based firm has a history of targeting companies globally. Earlier, the financial research firm’s allegations of “intricate fraud” at the US-based electric truck maker Nikola Corporation in 2020 led to its former executive chairman Trevor Milton’s ouster. Hindenburg’s two-year investigation into Adani group has shown that more than USD100 billion was added to Gautam Adani’s net worth in the past three years largely due to an 800% rise in stock prices during this period.