The Adani crisis leads to protests and arrests, and sell-off losses reach more than $110 billion.
On Monday, the situation with the Adani group got worse. During protests, police arrested dozens of members of India’s main opposition party, and the saga caused parliament to be shut down again.
Shares of Adani kept falling, and the conglomerate’s market value has now dropped by more than $110 billion.
The crisis started when a short-seller in the United States, Hindenburg Research, released a report on January 24 that accused the Adani group of stock manipulation, taking on too much debt, and using tax havens.
One of India’s largest business groups, the Adani Group, has responded to the criticism and claims of wrongdoing in detail, but that hasn’t stopped its shares from continuing to fall.
Related: India’s parliament and financial sector are affected by the falling price of Adani shares.
People protested against Adani Group’s billionaire founder Gautam Adani at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Jantar Mantar is an observatory from the Mughal era that is also used as a protest site for all kinds of causes. Some people broke through the barricades, so the police had to stop and hold them.
Hundreds of Congress party members demonstrated across the country, including in front of the state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and the State Bank of India (SBI), both of which do business with Adani group companies.
Some members burned a suitcase with an SBI logo at Jantar Mantar.
Monday was the third day in a row that both houses of India’s parliament were put on hold because of slogans and calls for an investigation.
Because of Hindenburg’s report, Adani Group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises Ltd., had to cancel a $2.5 billion share sale last week. Group chairman Gautam Adani also lost his title as Asia’s richest person and fell down the list of the world’s richest people.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CEO Gautam Adani are both from the same state. Opponents of Modi have said that Adani benefited from their close relationship, but Adani has said that this is not true. Modi’s government has also said that it does not favour Adani.
Warnings About Credit Ratings
On Friday, the crash of the stock market led to a series of warnings from credit rating agencies. Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) said the group may have trouble raising capital, and S&P cut the outlook for two group companies.
Even when regulators and the government try to calm investors’ fears, it doesn’t seem to work.
On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India said that the country’s banking system is still strong and stable. On Saturday, India’s market watchdog said that the country’s financial markets are still stable and continue to work in a clear and effective way.
SBI said on Friday that it wasn’t worried about its exposure to the Adani group, but that it would “evaluate each project on its own merit” before giving it more money.
India’s divestment secretary, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, told Reuters on Friday that LIC shareholders and customers shouldn’t worry about the company’s ties to the Adani Group.
Shares of Adani Enterprises fell 9.6% on Monday. The company’s market value has dropped by nearly $28 billion since the short-report seller’s disclosure.
Adani Transmission Ltd was down 10%, while Adani Green Energy Ltd, Adani Total Gas Ltd, Adani Power, and Adani Wilmar were all down around 5%.
Related: Asian stocks go up as fears about the Fed lessen, but India is held back by Adani.
The only stock to go against the trend and go up was Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, which went up 1.2%.