Sebi, DRI probing Adani Group companies, Min tells Lok Sabha
New Delhi: Markets regulator Sebi and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) are probing some Adani Group companies for alleged non-compliance with rules, the government told Lok Sabha on Monday.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question said accounts of three of the six Mauritius-based funds, that have invested most of their money in Adani Group firms, were frozen in 2016 over the issuance of Global Depository Receipt (GDR) by certain listed firms. No freeze was ordered for their holding in other firms.
"Sebi is investigating some Adani Group companies with regard to compliance with Sebi regulations," he said without giving details.
Also, DRI "is investigating certain entities belonging to the Adani Group of Companies under laws administered by it," he said.
The minister did not name which of the Adani Group companies were being investigated by Sebi and DRI. He also did not elaborate on the nature of the violation. He however said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wasn't investigating the Adani Group.
Shares of port-to-energy group nosedived last month after reports that accounts of three of the six Mauritius-based funds that have invested most of their money in Adani Group firms had been frozen by the national share depository. The three funds owned about $6 billion of shares across the conglomerate.
The Adani Group on June 14 denied the report of the freeze, calling it "blatantly erroneous". A day later it clarified that three demat accounts of Cresta Fund Ltd, Albula Investment Fund Ltd and APMS Investment Fund were "suspended for debit", adding to the confusion over the status of the offshore funds.
Shares of Adani Total Gas Ltd, Adani Power Ltd, Adani Transmission, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone , Adani Green Energy and flagship Adani Enterprises were impacted by the reports.
Prior to the episode, some of Adani Group's listed stocks had soared more than six folds in value since the start of 2020.
