Adani group stocks' combined mcap erodes by ₹2.45 lakh crore; Adani Enterprises slumps 23%

Adani group stocks faced heavy drubbing during the morning trade on Thursday, with the combined market valuation of all the listed firms getting eroded by ₹2.45 lakh crore, as billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay $250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

Some of the group firms also hit their lowest trading permissible limit for the day.

The combined market capitalisation (mcap) of all the ten listed group firms eroded by ₹2,45,016.51 crore during the morning deals.

In the equity market, the BSE benchmark Sensex traded 536.89 points lower at 77,041.49 and the NSE Nifty quoted 186.75 points down at 23,331.75.

This, they alleged, was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the project.

US law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or markets.

The Adani group did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

"The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars," Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the case, said in a statement.

Adani, chairman of the ports-to-energy Adani Group, his nephew Sagar R Adani, who is an executive director at the conglomerate's renewable energy arm Adani Green Energy Ltd, and its former CEO Vneet Jaain were charged with securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

The Adanis were also charged in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case.