NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - India's foreign ministry

said on Friday that bribery allegations against billionaire

Gautam Adani is a legal issue between private firms and the U.S.

Department of Justice and that New Delhi has not received any

request on this case from Washington.

The comments were the first official reaction from the

Indian government to the indictment of Adani, the chair of

Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world's richest

people, and came more than a week after it was unsealed in New

York.

U.S. authorities

accused

Adani, 62, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani

and managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, of being

part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian

solar power supply contracts, and misleading U.S. investors

during fund raises there.

The ports-to-power conglomerate denied the charges as

"baseless" and vowed to seek "all possible legal recourse".

"This is a legal matter involving private firms and

individuals and the U.S. Department of Justice," Indian foreign

ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters at a weekly

media briefing. "There are established procedures and legal

avenues in such cases which we believe would be followed."

The Indian government was not informed in advance about the

indictment and is not part of the "conversation" at this point,

Jaiswal said.

Any request by a foreign government for service of

summons or arrest warrant is part of mutual legal assistance and

India has not received any request on this case from the U.S.

side, he said, adding that "such requests are examined on

merit".

The indictment has sparked

political wrangling

in India as many Indian opposition parties accuse Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of

favouring Adani and blocking investigations against him in

India, accusations both have denied.

While the government had not made any comment on the

indictment so far, Modi's BJP has said it had no reason to

defend Adani and that the law will take its course.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Shivam Patel; Editing by

YP Rajesh)