Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have cut their exposure to most Adani Group companies in the September quarter, according to a CNBC-TV18 analysis of quarterly shareholding patterns updated on the exchanges.

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Among the ten Adani Group companies listed on the exchanges, the flagship company Adani Enterprises has seen the biggest sequential drop in overseas holdings. FPIs have cut their stake in Adani Enterprises by 4.8 percentage points between July and September to 14.5% as of September 30.

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone has seen its overseas holding decline to 13.8% in September from nearly 17% as of June. FPI stake in cement manufacturer ACC Ltd. has declined by nearly 3 percentage points to 7.1% as of September 30, according to the shareholder data.

Interestingly, half of these ten companies - Adani Ports, ACC, Adani Energy Solutions (Adani Transmission Earlier), Adani Wilmar and Adani Total Gas have been witnessing a drop in FPI holdings since the March quarter. Since March 2023, the FPI holding in Adani Ports and Adani Energy Solutions have come off by 4.2 and 3.3 percentage points respectively.

However, the combined FPI holding of these group companies has increased marginally to 14% in September from 13.7% in June. This is courtesy of GQG Partners, who acquired 8.1% stake in Adani Power in one of the largest block deals in mid-August. The stake was purchased from Adani family entities - Worldwide Emerging Market Holding and Afro Asia Trade and Investments Ltd.

Barring Adani Power and NDTV, all group companies have registered a drop in foreign holdings during the September quarter. Overseas investors had pulled out $2.3 billion worth of shares from Indian equity market during the month of September after consistently buying between March and August.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday, October 25, that the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) had returned to all past auditors of the Adani Group seeking information on over 100-plus questions.

The information was sought on issues like related party transactions among others. One of the auditors was also asked to present audit files of the previous years till the financial year 2022, according to the sources.

Adani Group stocks have been under pressure recently with their overall group market capitalisation falling below the Rs 10 lakh crore mark on Monday for the first time since May this year. As of closing on Thursday, that figure stood at Rs 9.8 lakh crore.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship company, will also be reporting its September quarter results on November 2.

(Edited by : Hormaz Fatakia)