BENGALURU: India‘s Adani Group is “well positioned” to capitalize on opportunities in the country’s booming infrastructure sector as spending is expected to surge, Chairman Gautam Adani told investors on Monday.
The group, which has businesses across ports, power utilities, transmission and coal trading, is betting on India’s infrastructure spending that is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 20%-25%, Adani said.
The group has become much “stronger” since it came under attack by U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research last year, Adani said at the annual general meeting of the group’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises.
Last January, Hindenburg accused the Adani Group of improper use of tax havens and stock manipulation. The group, which refuted the allegations, sparked a $150 billion meltdown in market value as the short-seller’s report roiled investor confidence and attracted regulatory scrutiny.
Group companies, including Adani Power and Adani Ports, recouped all their losses and moved past pre-Hindenburg levels last year. Adani Enterprises, too, bounced back past those levels in May.
“The headwinds that tested us became the very ones that made us even stronger,” Adani said, pointing to investments from GQG Partners, TotalEnergies and Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding after the Hindenburg saga.
India’s Supreme Court said in January 2024 that no further scrutiny was needed on the company. This was after a court-appointed panel said that India’s markets watchdog “drew a blank” in investigations into suspected violations in overseas investments in the Adani Group.
Adani group stocks, however, fell between 5% and 22% after a narrow win for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led alliance earlier this month.
(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
