MUMBAI: A day after Adani group was forced to withdraw its `20,000-crore follow-on public offering (FPO) of its flagship firm Adani Enterprises, banking and stockmarket regulators took note of allegations of irregularities against the conglomerate, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) put group firms’ shares under surveillance.
On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India directed banks to provide details of their loans to Adani firms, the collateral used for these loans, and any other indirect exposure. “The central bank wants to measure the total exposure of banks to the Adani group and if there is any risk to the banking sector,” said a senior official with a public-sector bank.
RBI’s prime concerns is that the firms take loans by pledging their shares, which poses risk to the lenders as a sharp fall in the stock price could lower the value of the pledged shares. In all, the listed firms of the Adani group have lost as much as Rs 8.76 lakh crore in market capitalisation in just six trading sessions.
The Union finance ministry has not sounded any alarm yet on concerns related to group. A source in the North Block said that as long as the exposure of financial institutions is not high, the government will not be too worried about the Adani saga. Exposure of public-sector entities such as LIC and SBI is not high and the ministry does not comment on the performance of private entities, the source added.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is also looking into the allegations of irregularities levelled by Hindenburg Research against Adani group. The regulator is scanning all the transactions done by the group companies in the listed space. It is also checking whether the group failed to make any relevant disclosure required as per the regulations.
Meanwhile, the NSE on Thursday placed Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Ambuja Cements under the Additional Surveillance Mechanism (ASM) framework, which will require 100% margin to trade in their shares. The ASM framework aims to protect retail investors from the sharp swings in the shares.
The move is also expected to reduce speculation and short selling.