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30-11-2024
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: Indian banks are reviewing their Adani exposure and whether they need to tighten due diligence, eight bankers said on Thursday, after the group’s billionaire founder Gautam Adani was indicted by US authorities over an alleged $265 million bribery scheme.
Adani Group’s listed stocks, which at one point saw as much as $34 billion wiped off their market value, meanwhile recovered ground as some partners and investors rallied behind it.
State Bank of India, opens new tab will not stop lending to ongoing Adani projects that are nearing completion, two sources told media, but will exercise caution when disbursing loans to ensure all terms and conditions are being met.
Bank of India, opens new tab, Union Bank, opens new tab, ICICI Bank, opens new tab, Canara Bank, opens new tab, IDBI Bank, opens new tab and RBL Bank, opens new tab, which have relatively smaller exposures to the Adani Group, are undertaking similar exercises, sources said.
A regulatory source aware of the development said from a banking system perspective that no entity was over-exposed to the Adani group and there was no cause for concern.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel said it wants Adani Group to continue to invest there, adding that the US allegations were not “problematic” from its perspective.
“We wish Adani and all Indian companies continue to invest in Israel,” Israel’s Ambassador to India Reuven Azar told Reuters in an interview.
The Adani Group holds a 70% stake in Haifa port in northern Israel and is involved in projects with Israeli firms, including manufacturing military drones and commercial semiconductors.
Adani and seven others are accused by US authorities of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts. The Adani Group has denied the allegations.
The Indian ports-to-power conglomerate has also received public backing from Abu Dhabi’s International Holding, opens new tab, which maintained its outlook on investments in the group.
“Our partnership with the Adani Group reflects our confidence in their contributions to the green energy and sustainability sectors,” IHC said on Wednesday, adding that it “continues to evaluate relevant information and developments”.
IHC, which is one of Adani’s key foreign investors, boosted its stake in the group’s Adani Enterprises, opens new tab flagship to more than 5% last year after selling down investments in Adani Green Energy, opens new tab and Adani Energy Solutions, opens new tab.
Shares in Adani Green, the company at the centre of the bribery allegations, rose by 10% on Thursday, hitting the cap on gains in a single session for a second consecutive day, with Adani Energy also up the maximum 10%.
The total losses in the value of Adani Group’s 10 listed companies have narrowed to $14.5 billion from about $34 billion, the low reached on Tuesday after the US indictments.
Global investors say worries of a wider spillover from the Adani allegations will hurt sentiment in India but not the long-term outlook, as they wager one of the world’s best-performing markets will get back on track next year.
Investors expect a stronger spotlight on governance and disclosure, and perhaps some volatility but say the affair has not challenged the reasons they are in India in the first place for exposure to a growing economy and a huge consumer market.
