Supreme Court orders SEBI to submit report in Adani case by August 14

The court on Monday adjourned the hearing on SEBI's plea seeking extension of six months to complete the probe into the Hindenburg Research report. The Supreme Court again said that it cannot give indefinite time to complete the investigation.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave market regulator Sebi time till August 14 to submit its report on the probe into the Adani Group-Hindenburg Report case. The top court on Monday adjourned the hearing on SEBI's plea seeking extension of six months to complete the probe into the Hindenburg Research report. The Supreme Court again said that it cannot give indefinite time to complete the investigation. The court has already given five months time.

SEBI told the Supreme Court that the 51 companies that SEBI has investigated are related to the issuance of Global Depository Receipts. SEBI told the Supreme Court that the name of any Adani company was not included in those 51 companies. According to the agency, after completion of the investigation, appropriate enforcement action was taken in this matter. Therefore, the allegation that SEBI is probing Adani since 2016 is factually incorrect.

Finance Ministry replied

Apart from this, the Finance Ministry said in response to the opposition's tweet that the government stands by its answer in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2021. The Finance Ministry said in a tweet that the Government stands by its reply to Question No. 72 in the Lok Sabha on July 19, 2021, which was based on inputs received from all relevant agencies. Congress's Jairam Ramesh alleged that there was inaction on the part of SEBI or the government misled the Parliament. In its reply, the government had said that SEBI is probing some Adani Group companies for compliance with the regulator's guidelines.

Contact with foreign agencies

SEBI stated before the Supreme Court that SEBI has already approached 11 foreign regulators under MoU with the Organization of International Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to examine the minimum public shareholding norms. The first request to foreign regulators was made on October 6, 2020, Sebi informed the court. On March 2, the apex court directed SEBI to investigate any violation of securities laws by Adani Group. Due to the Hindenburg report, the market cap of Adani Group has suffered a loss of more than USD 140 billion.