On Wednesday, the overall market capitalization of the Adani Group reached $200 billion or Rs 16.9 lakh crore, as all the listed companies in the Adani Group together appreciated by Rs 11,300 crore, thanks to high investor confidence in the group, especially when the group was vehement in rejecting allegations regarding the irregularities in the company’s coal invoicing system. According to data gathered from the stock market exchanges, the company’s market capitalization has increased by Rs 56,250 crore in total trading of the last two sessions.
This surge happened the day a UK wire service, citing documents from the OCCRP funded by George Soros, accused the Adani Group of fraud in 2013 by selling low-quality coal as high-quality fuel to a Tamil Nadu power company. A policy-level quarry of the Adani Group has categorically refuted these allegations. The news report has also received attention from the opposition leaders where the former Congress president, Rahul Gandhi has urged the parliament to set up a joint parliamentary committee investigating the accused misconduct.
In his reaction, a public relations officer of the Adani Group said that the quality of the coal supplied to Tangedco was independently tested at various stages, which included loading, discharge, and verification by customs authorities of Tangedco. In response to the accusation of supplying low-quality coal, the spokesperson was categorical, saying: “We want to clarify that the clearance of coal has gone through strict quality control checks from various agencies, making the claim as far-fetched as it is unfair.”
To support their claims, the company also pointed out that it only makes payments based on the amount of coal supplied and subjected the supposed ‘low-quality’ supply to testing, all of which returned values within regulatory standards.
Furthermore, in response to the above statement, the spokesperson noted that the vessel used in December 2013 was not involved in the transportation of coal from Indonesia until February 2014. The company dismissed such claims as mere speculations as there was a significant difference in terms of FOB and CIF price of coal.
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