Adani Group will be audited by an independent audit firm to restore its image. For that, they have appointed the world famous audit firm Grant Thornton. Analysts believe that this is the biggest step of the Adani group after the publication of the Hindenburg report on January 24.

Last week, the Adani group said it was considering conducting an independent review of related-party transactions and internal controls, including legal matters. And this appointment of Grant Thornton is for that purpose.

Grant Thornton will conduct internal audits of several Adani Group companies. Basically, Thornton will look into the Adani Group’s dealings with various related parties, Economic Times quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The Economic Times tried to contact Grant Thornton and Adani Group in this regard but was unsuccessful.

Adani Group claimed on Monday to reassure investors that its balance sheet is strong enough. They are not backing down from business expansion plans. Funding has also been provided for it. They are also confident of delivering returns to shareholders. They also claim that the authorities strictly follow the management of the organization.

But India’s regulatory agencies are also reeling. India’s market regulator confirmed yesterday that it is looking into the Hindenburg Research report. Apart from this, they will also check the market activity before and after the release of the report.

Meanwhile, on the first day of the week yesterday, the share price of listed companies of Adani group continued to fall. Adani Enterprises shares fell 7.03 percent yesterday. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone 5.25, Ambuja Cement 5.17, ACC 3.06 and Adani Wilmar and NDTV fell by 5 percent. The price of Adani Power has also decreased. Share prices of Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas have fallen the most in the last 52 weeks.

India’s Lok Sabha is also being heavily criticized about the Adani group. Answering a question in the Lok Sabha yesterday, Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said that five state-owned general insurance companies have a total investment of Rs 347.64 crore in various companies of Adani, which is 0.14 percent of the total investment. The companies are National Insurance, New India Assurance, United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance and General Insurance Corporation. And LIC has invested Rs 35,917.31 crores, a total of 0.975 percent of their total investment. LIC, however, has already reported that account (up to 31 December 2022).

On the other hand, the Union Minister of State for Finance of India did not answer the question of how many loans have been given to Adani Group by various banks including the State Bank of India. According to the Reserve Bank of India Act, Karad argues that banks or financial institutions cannot disclose publicly how much they have lent to.

Criticism has started with this. Congress MP Manish Tiwari’s quip on Twitter in response to Bhagwat Karad’s remarks, the minister sidestepped the issue by shielding the apex bank. Investment information should show full financial statements and not just percentages.

In 2020, Gautam Adani’s wealth was 8.9 billion or 8.9 billion dollars. After that, asset prices started to rise at a meteoric pace. Like many other billionaires around the world, Gautam Adani’s wealth also swelled during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, his wealth stood at 4 billion US dollars. And in February 2022, when he surpassed Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s third richest man, his wealth was worth $8,850 million.

Hindenburg Research has targeted this dramatic rise of Adani.