Adani stocks rally as SC says a publication’s work cannot be seen treated as ‘Gospel of Truth’

• Adani Total Gas and Adani Energy Solutions stocks jumped by 14% and 11.9% respectively.
• Supreme Court reserved order on Adani Hindenburg PILs on the issue on November 24.
• Don’t have to treat the Hindenburg report as being a statement of truth, the bench hearing the case said.
  

All ten listed companies of the Adani group rallied on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court said last week that the Hindenburg and OCCRP reports could not be treated as “credible”. Also, the markets regulator Sebi did not make any charges against the Adani Group. Adani Total Gas and Adani Energy Solutions jumped by as much as 14% and 11.9% respectively as of 9:30 am. This comes after the Supreme Court reserved order on the public interest litigations (PILs) on the Adani Hindenburg issue, last Friday. The apex court also said that the reports by Hindenburg and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project could not be treated as credible. Markets regulator Sebi too did not submit anything incriminating against the group nor did it seek more time to investigate the matter.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also observed that there is no means of testing the veracity of the Hindenburg report.

“We don’t have to treat the Hindenburg report as being a statement of truth,” the bench said.

US-based research firm Hindenburg had released a report on the Gautam Adani-owned companies in late January this year, alleging stock manipulation among others. It had also specified that it has taken short positions on various group stocks. Following the report, the group’s market capitalization sharply slipped in the days following the report.

Many PILs were filed on the issue, which were combined and heard by the court since February this year. The Apex court had asked markets regulator SEBI to provide a report on Hindenburg’s allegations. It had given a status update in August on the issue.

The court had also constituted a six-member expert committee to investigate the matter. It has not found any evidence of the Adani Group violating existing market regulations.

Company	Stock movement
Adani Enterprises	4%
Adani Ports & SEZ	2.5%
Adani Power	5.9%
Adani Energy Solutions	11.9%
Adani Total Gas	14.5%
Adani Wilmar	4.7%
ACC	2%
Ambuja	2.8%
NDTV	3.4%

Source: BSE
Price until 9:30 am

Should SEBI follow the media?

The court case hearings on Friday also covered the OCCRP report on Adani. It had alleged that Mauritius-based ‘opaque’ funds had invested in the company.

With regards to this and the many media reports on the issue, the court said that a statutory regulator like SEBI cannot be asked to take as a ‘gospel truth’ something published in the media.

CJI Chandrachud asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was representing one of the petitioners and was referring to Hindenburg report as well as some reports by the media and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), should the SEBI be following up journalists.

"Therefore, should SEBI be following up journalists and ask a journalist, who is not subject to their jurisdiction, to disclose the underlying material," said the bench.

(With inputs from PTI)