Adani Group
Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Ahmedabad. Founded by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a commodity trading business, it operates in seaport and airport management, electricity generation and transmission, mining, natural gas, food processing, defence and infrastructure. More than 60 per cent of its revenue derives from coal-related businesses.
| Adani Group | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private conglomerate with listed subsidiaries |
| Industry | Ports, airports, energy, mining, infrastructure, commodities, media |
| Founded | 1988, Ahmedabad, India |
| Founder | Gautam Adani |
| Headquarters | Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India |
| Area served | India, Australia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other markets |
| Key people | Gautam Adani (chairman), Karan Adani, Rajesh Adani |
| Products | Coal, electricity, edible oil, cement, gas |
| Services | Port operations, airport management, power transmission, logistics |
| Subsidiaries | Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and SEZ, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Ambuja Cements, ACC, NDTV |
| Website | adani.com |
Adani was the largest Indian conglomerate as of 2022, with a market capitalisation of 206 billion dollars, surpassing the Tata Group. In January 2023 the group lost more than 104 billion dollars in value following allegations of fraud and market manipulation by the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. Its market capitalisation returned above 200 billion dollars in May 2024.
The group's rise is closely associated with its relationship to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and it has been the subject of persistent allegations concerning stock manipulation, accounting irregularities, political favouritism, tax and customs evasion, environmental damage, pressure on journalists and bribery, all of which it denies.
History
Trading origins
Adani Exports Limited began as a commodity trading company in 1988 with capital of five lakh rupees, established as a partnership firm and expanding into the import and export of a range of commodities. The flagship entity, previously Adani Exports, is now Adani Enterprises.
In 1990 the group decided to develop its own port at Mundra in Gujarat to provide a base for its trading operations, beginning construction in 1995. This decision defined the company: rather than remaining a trader dependent on third-party infrastructure, Adani began building the infrastructure itself, a pattern repeated across every subsequent business.
By 1998 it was the largest net foreign exchange earner among Indian corporates. Coal trading began in 1999, followed in 2000 by a joint venture in edible oil refining with the formation of Adani Wilmar.
Infrastructure expansion
Mundra handled four million tonnes of cargo in 2002, becoming the largest private port in India. By 2006 the group was India's largest coal importer, handling 11 million tonnes.
In 2008 it purchased the Bunyu mine in Indonesia, with 180 million tonnes of coal reserves. In 2009 it began generating 330 megawatts of thermal power and built edible oil refining capacity of 2.2 million tonnes a year. In 2010 it formed a joint venture with Petronet LNG to develop a solid cargo terminal at Dahej Port, commencing phase one operations that August, and became India's largest private coal mining company after Adani Enterprises won the Orissa mine rights. Operations at Dahej began in 2011 and capacity subsequently grew to 20 million tonnes.
The group acquired the Galilee Basin mine in Australia, with 10.4 gigatonnes of coal reserves, and in 2011 the Abbot Point port in Australia with 50 million tonnes of handling capacity. The same year it commissioned India's largest solar plant at 40 megawatts and, reaching 3,960 megawatts of capacity, became the largest private thermal power producer in India. In 2012 it reorganised around three business clusters: resources, logistics and energy.
Adani Power became India's largest private power producer in 2014 with installed capacity of 9,280 megawatts. On 16 May that year Adani Ports acquired Dhamra Port on the east coast for 55 billion rupees, a former 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and L&T Infrastructure Development Projects.
Renewables, airports and cement
In 2015 Adani Renewable Energy Park signed an agreement with the government of Rajasthan for a 50:50 joint venture to establish India's largest solar park at 10,000 megawatts, and in November construction began at the port of Vizhinjam in Kerala.
In 2016 Adani Aero Defence signed an agreement with the Israeli manufacturer Elbit-ISTAR and Alpha Design Technologies to work on unmanned aircraft systems in India. In September, Adani Green Energy began operations at Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu with capacity of 648 megawatts at an estimated cost of 45.5 billion rupees, at the time the largest single-location solar plant in the world.
On 22 December 2017 the group acquired the power arm of Reliance Infrastructure for 188 billion rupees. In October 2019 the French energy company TotalEnergies bought 37.4 per cent of Adani Gas for 61.55 billion rupees and obtained joint control, investing a further 510 million dollars in a subsidiary of Adani Green Energy in February 2020.
In August 2020 Adani obtained a majority stake in the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports through a debt acquisition agreement with GVK Group, and separately secured 50-year leases on the Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram airports from the Airports Authority of India.
Adani Green Energy acquired SB Energy, a joint venture of SoftBank and Bharti Enterprises, for 3.5 billion dollars in May 2021. In May 2022 the group bought Ambuja Cements and ACC for 10.5 billion dollars, making it the second largest cement producer in India. The same month the Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding Company invested two billion dollars across Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises, and in June TotalEnergies acquired 25 per cent of Adani New Industries, the group's green hydrogen subsidiary.
Controversies
Political connections and cronyism
Gautam Adani has been described as close to Narendra Modi, formerly chief minister of Gujarat and subsequently prime minister, and to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Critics allege that this relationship explains the group's success in winning Indian energy and infrastructure contracts. Both the Adani Group and the government have denied allegations of cronyism.
Specific instances cited include a 2012 Indian government audit accusing Modi of supplying low-cost fuel from a Gujarat state-run gas company to Adani and other companies, and an exception made by the BJP-led Jharkhand state government to its energy policy for Adani's Godda power plant.
Forbes Asia reported that the group leased almost 7,350 hectares of land from government for as little as one United States cent per square metre, with rates reaching a maximum of 45 cents, and sublet some of it to other companies including the state-owned Indian Oil for as much as 11 dollars per square metre. Between 2005 and 2007 Adani acquired approximately 1,200 hectares of grazing land from villagers for the Adani Special Economic Zone, and in Kutch acquired 930,770 square metres for 19 cents per square metre for a power plant. Villagers within the zone alleged that land had been signed over by village chiefs without their knowledge.
Most of the group's projects outside India were announced following visits by Modi to the countries concerned or meetings with their heads of state. In 2021, after meeting Modi, the Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa told an official of the electricity board that Modi had pressed him to transfer a wind energy project to Adani. Following Modi's visit to Bangladesh, the government of Sheikh Hasina signed an agreement to import electricity from the group's Jharkhand plant, which the opposition later argued had been signed under pressure and which is under review by Bangladesh's interim government.
The Washington Post reported that in May 2025 the Indian state insurer LIC proposed investing 3.9 billion dollars in Adani shares and subsequently invested 585 million dollars in Adani Ports when the company needed to repay existing debt, a transaction criticised as a misuse of public funds.
Leverage
Group corporate debt totalled 30 billion dollars in 2022. In August 2022 CreditSights, a unit of Fitch Ratings, warned that aggressive expansion had damaged cash flow and credit metrics and that a worst-case scenario could leave the group in a debt trap and potential default. The report drew wide attention for describing the group as deeply overleveraged. Following representations from Adani, CreditSights softened its language while retaining its principal conclusion.
Hindenburg Research allegations
In January 2023 Hindenburg Research published the findings of a two-year investigation alleging market manipulation and accounting malpractice, describing the group as having conducted the largest con in corporate history and a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades. Hindenburg disclosed that it held short positions in Adani companies.
Bonds and shares of Adani companies fell by more than 104 billion dollars in market value, approximately half their total. The hedge fund manager Bill Ackman described the report as highly credible and extremely well researched. Adani denied the allegations as without merit.
On 29 January the group published a 413-page response calling Hindenburg's conduct a calculated securities fraud and the report a calculated attack on India and on the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions. Hindenburg replied that the response failed to engage with the issues raised and was an exercise in obfuscation under the garb of nationalism.
The consequences were immediate. On 1 February Adani cancelled a planned 2.5 billion dollar follow-on public offer, citing market volatility, and returned the money to investors. The Reserve Bank of India sought details from banks of their exposure. Citigroup's wealth unit stopped extending margin loans against Adani securities, and Credit Suisse stopped accepting Adani bonds as collateral. S&P Dow Jones Indices removed Adani Enterprises from its sustainability index, and Norway's sovereign wealth fund divested its remaining holding.
On 19 May 2023 a committee established by the Supreme Court of India reported that it was unable to conclude whether there had been regulatory failure in relation to the stock manipulation allegations, principally because of insufficient information in the explanations provided by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. SEBI had requested a six-month extension to its investigation; the court granted three months. On 3 January 2024 the Supreme Court ordered SEBI to complete its inquiry within 90 days, dismissed requests for a special investigation team or central bureau inquiry, and shifted attention to Hindenburg's own conduct. In March 2024 SEBI issued show cause notices to seven group companies over alleged violations of related party transaction rules and listing regulations.
Following the allegations, GQG Partners, an investment firm founded by Rajiv Jain, purchased 4.6 billion dollars of shares across six Adani subsidiaries. In September 2024 GQG Partners was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with impeding whistleblower protections through restrictive non-disclosure agreements.
Earlier SEBI action
In 2007 SEBI barred several Adani companies from buying or selling securities for two years over involvement in a scheme between 1999 and 2001 to influence stock prices artificially, conducted through entities overseen by the stockbroker Ketan Parekh, the principal accused in India's largest stock market scandal. The companies resumed trading after paying a fine of 140,000 dollars.
Tax and customs allegations
In August 2017 Indian customs alleged that the group was diverting funds from its books to family tax havens overseas through a Dubai shell company. Details of a 235 million dollar diversion were published by The Guardian. In 2014 the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence traced a money trail from India through South Korea and Dubai to an offshore company in Mauritius allegedly owned by Vinod Shantilal Adani, Gautam Adani's elder brother. The directorate sent the then SEBI chairman U. K. Sinha evidence of an alleged improper diversion of 23.23 billion rupees together with investigative notes warning of possible stock market manipulation funded by overvalued power equipment imports. SEBI did not publicly acknowledge receipt until September 2023, when it was disclosed to the Supreme Court.
Coal pricing
An investigation by the Financial Times found that the group had imported five billion dollars of coal at more than double market prices through offshore intermediaries in Singapore, Taiwan and Dubai. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence accused five group companies of artificially inflating the value of Indonesian coal imports by 50 to 100 per cent in order to overcharge power companies. A May 2024 investigation by OCCRP and the Financial Times reported that the group had fraudulently inflated the price of coal supplied to domestic utilities by passing off low-grade coal as high-grade.
Bribery charges in the United States
In March 2024 the United States expanded an investigation into the group, focusing on Gautam Adani's conduct and potential bribery in exchange for favourable treatment on an energy project, handled by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the fraud section of the Department of Justice criminal division.
On 20 November 2024 federal prosecutors in New York charged Gautam Adani and associates with multiple counts of fraud, alleging the payment of more than 250 million dollars in bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. In March 2025 the Indian government began proceedings to serve an SEC summons requiring Adani or his legal representative to appear. In January 2026 group shares fell ten per cent, a loss of 12.5 billion dollars, after the SEC asked an Indian court to issue email summonses to the defendants.
Separately, on 12 September 2024 the chief manufacturing officer of Ambuja Cement was arrested over an alleged bribery attempt.
Carmichael coal mine
In 2014, with the support of the Australian and Queensland governments, the group launched the Carmichael coal mine and rail project in Queensland's Galilee Basin, valued at 21.5 billion dollars over a 60-year life with annual capacity of ten million tonnes of thermal coal.
The project drew sustained opposition over its effect on the Great Barrier Reef, its water usage and its carbon emissions, giving rise to the Stop Adani campaign, which pressed Australia's four largest banks not to finance it. Following that pressure several international banks declined to participate, and in November 2018 Adani Australia announced that the project would be financed entirely from group resources.
In 2015 the head of Adani's Australian mining division, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, came under scrutiny over his previous role as operations director at Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia in 2010, when that company faced criminal charges relating to the discharge of hazardous wastewater into the Kafue River. The Australian government characterised Adani's omission of this history as a mistake and declined to pursue action, although presenting inaccurate or misleading information can constitute an offence under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
The Australian Conservation Foundation took the Australian government to the Federal Court in 2018 and again in March 2020 over alleged contraventions of that Act concerning the mine's effect on groundwater and water resources. The project received final approvals in July 2019 and construction began. Adani Mining renamed itself Bravus Mining and Resources in 2020.
Arms exports to Israel
In 2018 Adani Defence and Aerospace announced a joint venture with Elbit Systems to produce Hermes 900 military drones in India. In February 2024, 20 Hermes 900 drones were supplied to Israel. In April 2024 the Indian government abstained from a United Nations vote calling for an arms embargo on Israel, a decision critics linked to these exports.
Media ownership and press freedom
In August 2022 AMG Media Networks, a group unit, announced that it would buy RRPR Holding, owner of 29.18 per cent of the national news broadcaster NDTV, and made an open offer for a further 26 per cent. NDTV stated that Adani had acquired the stake through a third party without informing its founders, the journalist Radhika Roy and the economist Prannoy Roy, and that the transaction had proceeded without discussion, consent or notice. By December 2022 Adani was the largest shareholder. The Economist wrote that the channel had previously been critical of the government and had become supine.
In 2022 the freelance journalist Ravi Nair was reportedly issued an arrest warrant by Delhi police without prior summons after the group filed a defamation case against him. In December 2023 the group acquired a majority stake in Indo-Asian News Service, and Independent News Service, parent of India TV, is also backed by Gautam Adani.
A February 2023 article in The Signpost reported that people connected to Adani had manipulated Wikipedia entries using sock puppet accounts to insert promotional material and remove or alter criticism.
Bid rigging allegations
In March 2023 the group won a bid for the North West of Madheri coal block where the only other bidder was Cavill Mining Private Limited. An investigation by Scroll.in reported that Cavill is the main promoter of Adicorp Enterprises, which Hindenburg had alleged funnelled funds between Adani companies, raising concerns of bid rigging and collusion. The Indian National Congress separately accused the group of bid rigging after it won a contract to supply 6,600 megawatts of electricity to Maharashtra.
Kenya contracts
In November 2024 the Kenyan president William Ruto cancelled two significant agreements with the group, a lease of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and a contract with the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, announcing the decision in his state of the nation address the day after Adani directors were charged in New York.
See also
References