Adani Loses $110B, Sparks Protests Across India

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Facts

  • As Indian conglomerate Adani Group's market losses top $110B, dozens of India's opposition party members on Monday were detained during protests — prompting parliament to be suspended again due to disruptions surrounding the company.
  • The losses, which are up from $65B a week ago, follow a report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research last week, which flagged concerns about Adani firms' alleged mounting debts, stock manipulation, improper use of tax havens, and money laundering.
  • Members of the main opposition Congress party gathered outside the Jantar Mantar observatory in New Delhi to protest Adani's billionaire founder, Gautam Adani. They held banners, shouted slogans, and even breached barricades, causing police to detain them.
  • Protests mounted across the country, including outside the offices of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation and State Bank of India, both of which have ties to Adani group companies. As Adani and Prime Minister Modi are from the same state, allegations have been made that the Prime Minister has benefited from favoritism.
  • Adani's subsidiary stocks continued to fall Monday, with Adani Enterprises falling by 4%, Adani Transmission by 10%, and Adani Green Energy, Adani Power, and Adani Total Gas all dropping by 5%. The Security and Exchange Board of India and Goldman Sachs suggested that the overall Indian market is still stable.

Sources: Reuters, ITN, ARY News, One America, and CNBC.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Indian Express. Despite these market trends, the Indian market remains stable and reliable. Gautam Adani has said he will refund investor losses, and the government's independent regulators are already evaluating the situation. If India's economy was in the trouble, it wouldn't be projected to grow 7% in the next year — the largest projection among all major economies.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by NDTV. Prime Minister Modi has been quiet on this issue because he knows he's complicit. His own regulators should not be investigating this matter, but as the members of parliament have called for, a truly independent probe by the Supreme Court should be conducted. India's stock market isn't falling due to some malicious attack by Hindenburg, but because Adani's corporate-government corruption has finally been exposed.