CORNERED IN THE ESG ARENA

Struggling with ever-widening ESG compliance standards, and unable to push back beyond a point, corporate India is feeling the pressure from global powerhouses to match their compliance levels or lose out on trade opportunities. But this demand is not practical, feasible or even equitable for the growing economy with ambitions

- Neeraj Thakur

Gautam Adani was the world’s third richest man in January. Having surpassed billionaires Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mukesh Ambani in the world’s richest list, the chairman of the Adani group seemed unstoppable on the stock markets. But then, Hindenburg Research struck the group with its damning report, calling the rise of Adani as one of the biggest corporate cons in history. Within days stocks of Adani companies started crashing.

The US-based research firm alleged that the Adani group was involved in stock manipulation and misreporting financial parameters, which led to overvaluation of the group companies. The group also faced charges of conflict of interest on account of involvement of group promoter Gautam Adani’s brothers Rajesh and Vinod in bribery and tax-evasion cases. The report forced the company to stall its Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer despite it having been fully subscribed.

But this was not the end of the problem for the Adani group. Its companies now face scrutiny from environment, social and governance (ESG)-compliant funds and research firms that hold the power of grounding Gautam Adani’s green dreams, a business plan that was at the heart of India’s green transition over the next decade. It is important to note that every point raised by Hindenburg in its report against the Adani group is part of the ESG framework that has become the driving-point of investors in the West.