Sebi gets time till 14 Aug to complete Adani probe

SC calls for report on allegations of breach in minimum public shareholding

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) an extension until 14 August to conclude its investigation into allegations against the Adani group made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research. However, the extension falls short of the six months sought by the markets regulator.

Additionally, the court directed Sebi to provide a specific report on its investigation into alleged violations of minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms by certain Adani companies. Sebi rules require a publicly traded company to have a minimum public shareholding of 25%.

“We gave you two months through our order dated 2 March. We are extending this time till 14 August. You get a total of five months already. We cannot grant you an indefinite extension of time. You show us what you have done till 14 August, and then we will see if we should extend this time further...say till 30 September," it told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who represented Sebi in a clutch of PILs filed earlier this year demanding a court-monitored probe into the Adani-Hindenburg episode.

An affidavit filed by Sebi on Monday submitted that it first approached overseas regulators on 6 October 2020, in the context of the investigation into MPS of some Adani companies. The affidavit, however, did not apprise the top court of this investigation’s status or outcome.

Sebi, on its part, agreed to bring on record the latest status of the investigation into the MPS norms case, even as it added that a July 2021 reply by the junior finance minister to Parliament stating that “Sebi is investigating some Adani group companies with regard to compliance with Sebi regulations" referred only to the MPS norms and that it had nothing to do with the Hindenburg report.