Billionaire Gautam Adani extolled growth prospects for India and his business empire, slamming a damaging short seller attack against his embattled conglomerate earlier this year.
Adani came out swinging in a speech to shareholders at the annual general meeting of flagship firm Adani Enterprises Ltd. on Tuesday, hitting back at Hindenburg Research’s allegations of corporate fraud and stock manipulation, which he labeled as “false narratives” that “various vested interests tried to exploit.”
The tycoon rattled off ambitious expansion targets across his ports, energy and infrastructure businesses, while sending a clear message to shareholders: ignore the criticism. For months since Hindenburg’s broadside — which at one point wiped out more than $150 billion of the group’s market value — Adani Group has scrambled to restore investor confidence.
Since the January attack, Adani’s stocks and bonds have recouped some losses, particularly after the group received an investment from GQG Partners, and an interim report from an Indian Supreme Court appointed panel in May said it found no evidence of stock-price manipulation.
The billionaire talked up India’s potential, forecasting it will become the world’s second-biggest economy by 2050. Adani, whose perceived close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been highlighted by opposition politicians since the Hindenburg report, added that “for any economy to implement policy and lay the foundation of growth, a stable government is critical.”
Adani has tied his business ambitions to Modi’s economic aims. Both are from Gujarat and are seen as allies, though Adani Group has said it doesn’t receive or expect special treatment from the government.
“My belief in the growth story of our matrubhumi has never been stronger,” he said, meaning motherland. “Our country is the most exciting land of opportunity.”
--With assistance from Adrian Kennedy, Shruti Srivastava, Divya Patil, Ashutosh Joshi and Rajesh Kumar Singh.
