All ten Adani Group stocks fell sharply on Monday, with Adani Enterprises plunging over 5 per cent. The other key companies of the conglomerate, including Adani Ports, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power, and Adani Total Gas, were also down in the range of 3-5 per cent in morning trade.
Other companies owned by Adani Group, such as Ambuja Cements, ACC, and NDTV, also declined sharply during the session, showing the broad-based weakness across the group.
The sharp plunge came after the resignation of Adani Ports auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, last week. According to various reports, Deloitte resigned as the auditor of the company due to differences with the management about a few transactions that were highlighted in the report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.
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Following the resignation, Adani Ports appointed MSKA & Associates, an independent member firm of BDO International, as its new auditor. It is one of the six global audit firms.
In May this year, Deloitte pointed to certain transactions flagged by Hindenburg in its report and gave only a qualified opinion, indicating concerns by a company’s auditor.
Hindenburg report, released on 24 January this year, alleged the improper use of tax havens and raised concerns over its debt levels, which the Adani Group denied.
Deloitte has asked Adani Ports to conduct an independent inquiry on related party transactions pointed out by the short seller, to which the company did not agree.
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In May, a Supreme Court-panel said markets watchdog SEBI has "drawn a blank" in its probe into short seller’s allegations against the Adani Group, and its pursuit of the case could be a "journey without a destination."
The apex court had set a deadline of 14 August for SEBI to conclude its investigation and submit the report.
According to a Reuters report, SEBI requested the Supreme Court to grant it 15 more days’ to conclude the investigation and submit the status report into its investigation.
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