Adani group stocks' combined market cap erodes by ₹2.45 lakh crore, Adani Enterprises tanks 23%

• The combined market cap of Adani Group companies eroded by over ₹2.45 lakh crore.
• This comes amid a US probe into Gautam Adani into an alleged bribe charge.
• Adani has been charged over his role in an alleged scheme to pay a $250 million bribe to Indian officials.

Adani group stocks faced heavy drubbing during the morning trade on Thursday, with the combined market valuation of all the listed firms getting eroded by ₹2.45 lakh crore, as billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors.

Adani has been charged over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay a $250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

The stock of the group's flagship firm Adani Enterprises plunged 22.99%, Adani Ports dived 20%, Adani Energy Solutions tanked 20%, Adani Green Energy plummeted 19.53% and Adani Total Gas tumbled 18.14% on the BSE.

Shares of Adani Power slumped 17.79%, Ambuja Cements cracked 17.59%, ACC fell 14.54%, NDTV dropped 14.37% and Adani Wilmar declined 10%.

Some of the group firms also hit their lowest trading permissible limit or lower circuit for the day.

The combined market capitalisation (mcap) of all the ten listed group firms eroded by ₹2,45,016.51 crore during the morning deals.

In the equity market, the BSE benchmark Sensex traded 536.89 points lower at 77,041.49 and the NSE Nifty quoted 186.75 points down at 23,331.75.

US prosecutors charged Adani, 62, his nephew Sagar and other defendants for paying over $250 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than $2 billion in profit.

This, they alleged, was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the project.

The complaint charges them with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and officer and director bars.

US law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or markets.

The Adani group did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

"The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars," Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the case, said in a statement.

Adani, chairman of the ports-to-energy Adani Group, his nephew Sagar R Adani, who is an executive director at the conglomerate's renewable energy arm Adani Green Energy Ltd, and its former CEO Vneet Jaain were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

The Department of Justice alleged that on several occasions, Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme, and the defendants held in-person meetings with each other to discuss aspects of its execution.

With inputs from agencies.

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