The Union government has accepted the Supreme Court’s suggestion for a retired judge-led committee to study the recent alarming fall of Adani group shares following US-based short seller Hindenburg Research’s report and recommend improvements in statutory and regulatory regimes governing the securities market to protect investors against such future events.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta conveyed the government’s stand to a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala but also maintained that “the government is of the firm opinion that the existing structures and regimes, both statutory and regulatory, along with market regulator Sebi and related agencies are fully competent to deal with the incident that happened recently. ”
Mehta said, “The government has no objection to the constitution of a committee of experts. But the remit of the committee will be very important. It should not send a message to the international investors that the markets regulator is not competent to deal with the situation. It will affect market sentiments.”
Without naming Adani Group, Sebi informed the SC that the sharp drop in the market value of shares of the group companies have negligible impact on the sensex. “While the shares of the group have seen significant decline in prices on account of selling pressure, the wider Indian market has shown full resilience. The combined weight of the group companies in sensex is zero and in Nifty is below 1%,” it said.
Adani firms lose £100 bn in 13 trading days
The slide in Adani Group’s stocks continued in the new week with all 10 scrips closing in the red. With the day’s losses, the conglomerate’s market value erosion since January 24 now tops £100 billion. In Monday’s market, group flagship Adani Enterprises lost another 7%, while six more of the group’s stocks - Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, Adani Power, NDTV and Adani Wilmar - closed at the 5% lower circuit limit. The other three also closed deep in the red: Adani Ports and Ambuja Cements each closed 5. 2% down, while ACC lost the least among the 10 stocks (-3. 1%), BSE data showed. During the day, the combined loss in market value for the Adani Group was £5.15 billion, BSE data showed.