Adani Group Stocks Plunge After Bribery Charges Against Gautam Adani

Shares of Adani Group companies fell sharply on Thursday, with some losing up to 20%, after Gautam Adani and other executives were charged by US prosecutors for allegedly bribing Indian officials. The charges involve a bribe of $250 million to secure contracts, including one for India’s largest solar power plant.

Shares of Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, ACC, and Ambuja Cements hit their lower price limits early in the day.

Other Adani Group stocks, like Adani Green Energy and Adani Power, also saw declines of 10% to 20%. In contrast, the broader market (BSE Sensex) only fell by 0.57%.

The charges against Gautam Adani state that he and his associates paid about $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure contracts worth $2 billion in expected profits over 20 years.

These deals included a large solar power plant project. The prosecution also claims that the group hid their corruption to raise over $3 billion in loans and bonds.

US prosecutors say that Gautam Adani was referred to as "Numero uno" or "the big man" in private communications, and his nephew, Sagar Adani, tracked the bribes using his phone.

In response to these charges, some Adani Group subsidiaries canceled a planned $600 million bond offering. They stated that due to the legal issues, they would not proceed with the bond issuance.

Despite the financial fallout, analysts, like ICICI Securities, believe there won’t be any immediate impact on the Adani Group's operational performance.