Adani-Hindenburg Row: SEBI Requests a 15-Day Extension for the Finishing of the Probe
On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sought to the Supreme Court for an extra 15 days to complete its investigation and provide a status report on the claims made against the Adani group in the Hindenburg report. The report’s due date for submission was set for Monday.
The Supreme court had already given SEBI an extension to wrap up its inquiry till August 14th. However, this delay was shorter than the six-month term the market regulating body had originally asked to complete the probe.
Additionally, the court ordered SEBI to provide a thorough report on its investigation into any violations of the minimum public shareholding (MPS) standards by certain Adani firms. Publicly traded firms must maintain a minimum public ownership of 25% in accordance with SEBI laws.
In an affidavit turned in on Monday, SEBI said that it first contacted foreign regulatory agencies in connection with the MPS probe of a few Adani firms on October 6th, 2020. The Supreme Court was not informed by this affidavit of the status or results of this specific inquiry, however.
SEBI, for its part, agreed to provide an update on the investigation into the MPS norms case while emphasizing that the junior finance minister’s statement to Parliament in July 2021, in which he mentioned SEBI’s review of Adani group companies’ compliance with its rules, was only in reference to the MPS norms and had no bearing on the Hindenburg report.
The regulator’s declaration was made in front of a panel chaired by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud in response to the controversy that followed SEBI’s affidavit on Monday, which rejected claims as “factually baseless” that it had been looking into the Adani group since 2016. In a succinct affidavit given on Wednesday, SEBI made it clear that no listed firms in the Adani group were involved in the 2016 probe, which focused on the issuance of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) by 51 Indian listed companies.
