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Conglomerate has dismissed all allegations as baseless

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Watchdog dismissed two charges against Adani on Thursday

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Allegations made in 2023 report by U.S. short-seller

By Jayshree P Upadhyay

MUMBAI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - India's market regulator is

still looking into more than a dozen allegations that Adani

Group and its offshore funds broke securities regulations, two

sources with direct knowledge of the investigations said on

Friday.

They spoke a day after the Securities and Exchange Board of

India (SEBI) dismissed two allegations - one of stock

manipulation, the other non-disclosure of related party

transactions - made two years ago against Adani by U.S.

short-seller Hindenburg Research.

The conglomerate owned by billionaire Gautam Adani - which

includes infrastructure giants Adani Ports (APSE.NS) and Adani

Power (ADAN.NS) as well as his flagship Adani Enterprises - has

regularly dismissed all the allegations by Hindenburg as

baseless.

It hailed the dismissals on Thursday but did not immediately

respond on Friday to emailed questions about the report of

continuing investigations.

SEBI's communications department also did not immediately

respond to requests for comment.

The regulator began investigating Adani Group companies in

2023 after now-defunct Hindenburg accused them in a report of

improper use of tax havens and stock price manipulation. The

accusations initially led to a $150-billion sell-off of the

group's stocks.

The stocks have since recovered and shares of all nine

listed group companies rose on Friday in reaction to the

regulator's dismissals a day earlier. Gains were led by Adani

Power's 12.7% jump. Adani Enterprises was up 6%.

One of the sources told Reuters on Friday that some of the

investigations into allegations against the Adani group had been

closed and no further action would be taken.

But "there are at least over a dozen cases still pending for

final orders," the source said, referring to decisions on

whether to dismiss the allegations or impose monetary penalties.

Those cases included allegations that Adani Enterprises,

Adani Ports, Adani Energy and Adani Power had

wrongfully categorised certain shareholders as public, the

sources said.

Those four companies reported in their financial statements

in July and August that the watchdog was looking into the

wrongful categorisation allegations.

Reuters reported in April that around 30 Adani group

entities have applied to settle some of these regulatory

charges.