SEBI rulings do not address all Hindenburg allegations. Adani faces ongoing scrutiny from USDOJ over an alleged $265 million bribery case.
Published Sep 22, 2025 | 7:13 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2025 | 7:13 PM
Gautam Adani
Synopsis: Gautam Adani, cleared by SEBI of Hindenburg’s 2023 allegations, announced a focus on innovation, transparency, and long-term impact for his ports-to-energy group. Despite a $150 billion market value loss, the group maintained operations. SEBI found no evidence of related-party fund routing. Adani praised employees’ resilience, urging them to build a lasting legacy while facing ongoing US bribery scrutiny.
Days after receiving a clean chit from SEBI in the Hindenburg allegations, billionaire Gautam Adani announced that his ports-to-energy conglomerate will focus on accelerating innovation, enhancing transparency, and creating long-term impact.
“Today, a cloud that had hung over us for more than two years has been lifted,” Adani stated in an internal memo to employees.
“SEBI’s comprehensive investigation has concluded by rejecting all allegations contained in the Hindenburg report from January 2023.”
The Hindenburg report had accused the group of accounting irregularities, share price manipulation, and using opaque offshore entities, causing a sell-off that wiped out over $150 billion in market value at its peak.
The Adani Group consistently refuted the claims, and Hindenburg has since ceased operations.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) dismissed several of Hindenburg’s accusations.
In two separate rulings, it found no evidence of the conglomerate using related-party transactions to funnel funds into its listed companies, stating the transactions cited by Hindenburg did not qualify as related-party dealings.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani described the allegations as a “targeted, multidimensional assault” and praised his workforce for maintaining operational momentum amid global scrutiny.
“This attack was never just a market event.” He commended employees for continuing to deliver major infrastructure projects, including ports, power plants, airports, and renewable energy initiatives, despite intense reputational and legal pressure.
“While the world debated about us, our ports expanded, transmission lines stretched farther, power plants ran reliably, renewable projects continued to green the world, airports advanced, cement furnaces fired away, and logistics teams delivered flawlessly,” he said.
“You proved that execution under pressure is the truest test of character, and that the Adani character is simply unbreakable.”
He noted the company had emerged stronger and outlined future priorities, including transparency, innovation, long-term value creation, and transformation.
“Integrity and transparency must remain the foundation of everything we do— inseparable, uncompromising, and safeguarded relentlessly,” he said.
Other priorities include hastening innovation in energy, logistics, and infrastructure; building a legacy that lasts for decades beyond headlines; and embracing transformation to shape the future. Adani urged the group to drive bold advances that “push the very edges of possibility.”
“We must build not for today’s applause but for a legacy that endures for decades. Headlines fade, but what we create must leave its mark on history.” He encouraged employees to embrace transformation, stating, “Either we shape the future into what we dream or be shaped by the future into what we fear.”
He highlighted the group’s resilience, noting that “while the world debated about us, our ports expanded, transmission lines stretched farther, power plants ran reliably, renewable projects continued to green the world, airports advanced, cement furnaces fired away, and logistics teams delivered flawlessly.”
Calling the row as an ‘agnipariksha’, he said crises strengthen resolve and warned of future challenges, urging employees to draw confidence from their performance under pressure.
Over the past decade, the Adani Group diversified extensively from ports and logistics into energy, data centres, airports, cement, and green hydrogen, propelling its founder to the world’s second-richest position before the Hindenburg report.
The crisis shook global investors, prompted Supreme Court queries, and led to multiple SEBI probes. Hindenburg ceased operations in January 2025 under “mysterious circumstances,” but the allegations lingered until SEBI’s recent findings.
Despite early 2023 credit downgrades and investor scepticism, the group regained market value, supported by equity investments from firms like GQG Partners and Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company, alongside debt reduction and resumed expansion.
SEBI investigated related-party transactions and offshore fund structures, with the group denying wrongdoing, calling the report a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless allegations.”
SEBI’s rulings do not address all Hindenburg allegations as Adani faces ongoing scrutiny from a US Department of Justice indictment over an alleged $265 million bribery case.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
