Sebi Investigation Finds Adani Group Not Guilty of Hindenburg’s Insider Trading Claims

India’s financial markets regulator, Sebi, has cleared Gautam Adani and his group companies of allegations of stock manipulation made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research. In two detailed orders issued on Thursday, Sebi announced it found no evidence that the Adani Group used related parties to route funds into its listed companies, nor did it find proof of insider trading, market manipulation, or violations of public shareholding norms.

The allegations stemmed from a January 2023 report by Hindenburg, which accused the Adani Group of using companies like Adicorp Enterprises, Milestone Tradelinks, and Rehvar Infrastructure to channel funds into Adani Power and Adani Enterprises. However, Sebi said that the transactions in question did not meet the criteria for related-party dealings and no disclosure rules were violated. The regulator added that there were no signs of substantial acquisition of securities or control that would have misled investors.

With these findings, Sebi stated there was no reason to assign any liability or penalties to the Adani Group or its executives. This “clean chit” from the regulator comes after intense scrutiny and speculation that followed the Hindenburg report, which caused a massive slump in Adani stocks worth over $150 billion at its lowest point. Most of these losses were later recovered before a broader stock market downturn set in. An earlier Supreme Court-appointed expert panel reached a similar conclusion, finding no clear evidence of wrongdoing by the Adani Group.