The Securities and Exchange Board of India – SEBI has given a clean chit to industrialist Gautam Adani and his group of companies, saying that the allegations made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research of insider trading, market manipulation, and violations of public shareholding norms were found to be unsubstantiated. In two separate orders, SEBI said that it found no evidence that the conglomerate used related parties to route funds into its listed companies.

 

 

 

SEBI board member Kamlesh C Varshney said in his orders that there was no violation of the market regulator’s disclosure norms as the transactions between the said firms did not meet the definition of a related party. It added that there is also no violation involving substantial acquisition of securities or control that could mislead investors. Accordingly, SEBI concluded that there was no basis for assigning liability or imposing penalties on the Adani entities or their executives.

 

 

The regulatory clearance follows months of scrutiny and speculation triggered by Hindenburg’s report of January 2023.

 

 

While the Adani Group has repeatedly denied all allegations, a Supreme Court-appointed expert panel had also previously echoed similar findings, noting no prima facie evidence of wrongdoing.