Don’t know much about this, but I noticed it hit WSJ today, India’s Adani Group Fails to Halt Short-Seller Driven Decline:
A giant Indian conglomerate couldn’t stop the freefall in its shares and bonds set off by an American short seller in what has grown into a bitter fight over the empire created by one of India’s richest and most politically connected businesspeople.
Adani Group, an energy and infrastructure company, released its 413-page rebuttal to the short seller’s claims just as the trading week began in Asia. Investors weren’t convinced and dumped shares of the company on Monday, bringing the total value lost to $64 billion since last week.
The fight could have wide implications for India’s power industry and for its transition to clean energy. It has also caused billions of dollars in losses for Indian investors who have helped drive up the company’s share price to stratospheric levels.
You can find the Hindenburg Ressearch Report here. This part jumped out at me:
Most large companies hire credible, well-known external auditing firms in order to give investors confidence that their financials are being independently reviewed by a capable team.
Given the complexity of Adani Total Gas and, particularly, Adani Enterprises, with 156 subsidiaries and many more affiliates and joint ventures, one would expect a large, highly experienced team to be monitoring its labyrinthian corporate structure.[62]
But Adani Group has apparently shunned this approach, choosing a tiny auditor named Shah Dhandharia to oversee the audits for these two public companies.
Shah Dhandharia’s website has gone offline during our investigation and now appears to have no website. Archived versions of the website as of February 2020 show that the firm was comprised of only 4 audit partners and 7 support staff.[63]
Of the partners featured on its team page, we found that 3 were in their 20s – hardly the level of experience or seniority needed to seriously scrutinize one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful businessmen.
Apparently, the Adani group has a 413-page rebuttal to the short-sellers. Rebuttals often take more time/space…but I not going to lie, I am not surprised at the length here…
(though some short-sellers have done sketchy things, my own view is short-sellers are an essential part of af functioning market and discourage crony-capitalism)
As per @saiarav twtr thread, the part about Adani not hiring one of the big auditors is still in dispute. He has locked his account otherwise would have linked here.
That’s even worse. There should be no dispute about a public company’s auditor.
As per this business standard report
“The Adani group has said the alleged accounting or fraud type assertions or “investigation” by US-based Hinderburg Research is “devoid of facts” as of the group’s nine public listed entities, eight are audited by one of the big-six auditing companies.”
https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/companies/adani-counters-hindenburg-charges-says-top-firms-are-auditing-8-group-cos-123012701179_1.html
As per rest of report , the conglomerate may be hiring some smaller auditing firms for other non listed companies.
Shah Dhandharia, as the auditor of Adani Enterprises is the group auditor and ultimately responsible for all the audits of Adani Enterprises subsidiaries. Its cold comfort that one of Adani Enterprises’s subsidiary’s subsidiary was audited by a “big six” firm, Grant Thornton. There is no way a 11-employee strong audit firm like Dhandharia has the capability to properly supervise the audits of 150+ subsidaries of Adani Enterprises by 27 different audit firms.
The whole thing is a mess. 27 different auditors for just Adani Enterprises(which itself is a part of Adani Group, which has 8 other public companies, who all have different auditors, and God knows how many different auditors, for all of their subsidiaries).
The company itself is not even that big by revenue. The whole group has a revenue of $23.3 billion. Adani Enterprises, the member company, we are talking about has a revenue of just $9 billion. So why the complex audit structure? Maybe because its conglomerate dealing in different lines of business? But then again a company like Berkshire Hathaway, which has revenue 10x that of Adani Group and deals in everything from insurance to railroads just has one auditor.
Shortsellers, by incentive, have to be more sophisticated and be spot on their research because shorting a company is way more riskier than going long, as the losses on a short are unlimited.
I think 4-5 years ago, Hindenberg group did a hit piece on Canadian Cannabis company Aphria (now merged with Tilray) that I invested, and exposed an elaborate accounting fraud by upper management by exposing the inflated values of their Carribean and South American acqisitions and funneling of funds back to upper managements via shady means. The company before this hit piece was touted as having the best fundamentals, but Hindeberg claimed it was mostly fraudulent. (https://hindenburgresearch.com/aphria-a-shell-game-with-a-cannabis-business-on-the-side/) The stock cratered >50% the next day. It did bounce back on a sector wide rally a couple of years later and I made a shit lot of money but knew that the management and the entire sector was tainted so cashed out with profit. The market cap of the company has lost 90% since then. I would say 75-80% of the claims made by Hindeberg were right. They did exxagerate but they weren’t wrong.
Not knowing anything about this Adani case, but I would suspect Hindenberg is more right than wrong, that’s how they make money.
Does anybody know what is the timeline for when this matter will be resolved conclusively? Or this is initial salvo of series of wave attacks?
these disputes can last a long time. bill ackman took 6 years to concede defeat in his herbalife short
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ackman#Herbalife_short
You only need to look at the absurd P/E ratio to know something’s off.
Not sure if High P/E ratio by itself is an indicator of fraud. Iirc amzn had ~similar ratio in early teen years. More recently tsla also faced similar challenges. Not to mention all the crypto/ftx frauds.
This is not to say that Adani is in the same league as Tesla or amzn.
My understanding is that high P/E ratio means investors expect the future earnings to be high. In case of Adani it could be irrational exuberance on part of retail investors based on his living up key monopoly sectors in IN. But if he was cooking up current actual numbers then wouldn’t you expect P/E ratio to be lower?
Or is the allegation that he has cooked up the numbers as much as he could reasonably?
Only 2% of the stock of Adani Enterprises is owned by the general public. Their exuberance should have little effect. On the other hand, 64% of the stock is directly owned by insiders. Now their exuberance…..
Not to mention, many of the “institutions” that comprise the 15% stake by foreign institutions are likely to be tied to Adani as well.
Ok I just read: this:
“The independent auditor for Adani Enterprises and Adani Total Gas is a tiny firm called Shah Dhandharia. Shah Dhandharia seems to have no current website. Historical archives of its website show that it had only 4 partners and 11 employees. Records show it pays INR 32,000 (U.S. $435 in 2021) in monthly office rent. The only other listed entity we found that it audits has a market capitalization of about INR 640 million (U.S. $7.8 million).”
$200 billion+ conglomerate audited by a firm with 11 employees without a website? Whaaaat? It’s just absurd. This is not some basic IT company with minimal fixed assets or intangibles, they literally have complex fixed assets, acquisitions, intangibles, dealings with government agencies, contacts, major revenu rec issues etc etc. How do 5 juniors and seniors audit that shit? Why did it take some American short seller firm to point that out? Major red flags, just on this point alone.
25 year old auditors in the US can barely navigate Excel but the geniuses at Dhandharia can sign off on audits of multi billion dollar firms. The whole thing is absurd.
Guy signed off on audit report when he was 23. mannn. just leave all the complicated accounting fraud aside, this alone should be ringing alarm bells everywhere. There is obvious fraud going on, issue is not the fraud but how open it is to spot something like this and why nobody ever raised an alarm until an American shortseller came in
The company that’s barely profitable will have a P/E Ratio of negative infinity to infinity
So PE ratio can be very large for many reasons including financial distress.
i’m not goign to dig deep into this, but this looks like partly ppl were going long on the relationship btwn the conglomerate and the indian gov? adani and modi are close?
Very close. Adani helps a lot with BJP war chest. This looks bad. But the government will bail him out because of critical infrastructure projects. But he is nonetheless gonna take a big hit and this will he a major scandal for BJP. This can have some election consequences, if played well by the opposition.
there is also a line of argument which says that india at this stage needs these ‘vanderbilts’???
Why just the robber barrons? Maybe India can look forward to a civil war followed by a gilded age if we are just copying America.
No India doesn’t need a “Vanderbilt”? If Adani has committed fraud, he should be punished according to law. Not let of the hook because he is our “Vanderbilt/Carnegie/Rockefeller” etc. Also to the analogists, rail, steel, and oil were new inventions/discoveries in the 19th century. Ports and coal power plants are not.
Rockefeller monopolized the kerosene market not because of government handouts and contracts but by creating an extremely effective product that made entire whale blubber industry redundant. He also found a use for gasoline with the rise of ICE cars .. which was usually a by product at the time. Guy was fighting government his entire life, there is no comparison with him here.
Yep and JP Morgan bailed out the US Government in the panic of 1907 instead of the other way around. The American titans of industry/robber barrons made money in spite of government not because of it.
‘Why just the robber barrons? Maybe India can look forward to a civil war followed by a gilded age if we are just copying America.’
I wouldn’t mind a civil war followed by a gilded age…
Comparison of adani et al with 19th century American tycoons is comparing apples to oranges. The context is different. US had the entire continent full of fertile land, fresh water and mineral resources to exploit. AFAIK US tariffs encouraged domestic manufacturing to WW2. Teddy Roosevelt was the first one to tame tycoons without harming US manufacturing. Everyone was clear about US interests being supreme.
Compared to that IN has to import coal from AU inspite of sitting on top large coal reserves.
Again We have 1st world woke politics with 3rd world economics.
At the end of the day, we have to play by the current rules of the game.
Question is if stock value was inflated what is it used for? Are tax payers on hook? Are any of the airports or seaports at risk of foreign/hostile take over? Is India growth story at risk?
That argument is attempting to link Indian Crony Capitalism to how East Asia & Asian Tigers developed where State selected Winners & then went full steam ahead.
It sounds good in theory, because well it objectively did work for may countries in the end, can’t deny South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China’s development.
However not all States who attempt this succeed on this as well (large parts of Asia, Africa, etc). If anything it could be said India already tried this from late 60s onwards (despite Nationalization & post that), scale maybe small but the gist is similar, let Private Crony network take the load of revenue deprived Public sector, etc etc.
It’s a gamble which relies on trusting the Process/Govt/Incumbent-Party.
Pro is great (If it happens). Con is, well less said the better.
As per @saiarav twtr thread, the part about Adani not hiring one of the big auditors is still in dispute. He has locked his account otherwise would have linked here.
I think it referred to the 13th slide in here-
https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/227f5520-4cbb-47ca-bcb4-f6957c395762.pdf
There is no smoking gun in the Hindenburg report. However they did achieve the short seller’s goal of puncturing a bubble. Adani is terribly overvalued.
Indian business houses are going to get more of intra-ocean PR wars. Vedanta and Adani have been at the receiving end of many such campaigns for coal mining in Australia.
Adani will survive this with a scar and a limp. Dhirubai Ambani was brutally subjected to scrutiny by Ramnath Goenka and the subject of many FEMA investigations. He learnt to manage the political environment after those episodes.
My main concern is that Adani is over leveraged (primarily State Bank of India which is largest govt owned bank in India)
The collateral is over priced stock.
The stock is overpriced because Adani (as maybe other Indian companies) manipulate price using opaque mauritius entities who are proxies for Adani
The regulator has a rule that publicly traded companies have to float atleast 25% stock but Adani indirectly holds 90-95%
If Adani goes down, then
1. State Bank of India goes down
2. The savings or many Indians invested in Adani via Life Insurance Corporation of India gets wiped out
3. Critical infrastructure projects handed over to Adani will be left in limbo
These are some pretty sweeping statements. First of all how are you measuring leverage? What ratios are you alluding to from the balance sheets, etc? Adani has major hard assets with stable cash-flows.
Secondly, using stock as collateral is very common for all corporates.
What % of SBI’s total portfolio is Adani – debt and equity side? Do you realize how massive that portfolio is?
Adani is less than 1% of LIC’s portfolio
These attempts to link Adani to the overall Indian economy are over sensationalizations, and false. And more so on the Adani critic side, than Adani trying to link himself nationalistically to India (which evrey major corporation does for their home country). All corporates combined maybe account for 9-12% of total Indian annual GDP.
https://twitter.com/GerberKawasaki/status/1620089506404900866
The Indian government under Modi continues to be one of the worst in Indian history. Hard to believe this was the land of Gandhi. And the corruption goes all the way up the ladder. And of course the enablers of Russian genocide in Ukraine.
@HindenburgRes
#AdaniGroup
Are large infrastructure groups with a diversified portfolio typically the target of shorting attempts ?
There is a very high chance that such entities will not be allowed to fail by the government.
Hindenburg’s previous targets have been companies making more ‘specialty/fringe’ products.
Some of their claim’s are just plain stupid. Financial journalist murders in India ? Sucheta Dalal did a number on Harshad Mehta, and it was Mehta who died, while Dalal thrived.
And while Shah Dhandharia is a tiny firm, it appears to be a legitimate business operational since 1990.
The whole thing looks very murky.
>Shah Dhandharia is a tiny firm, it appears to be a legitimate business operational since 1990.
The auditor is definitely not independent and is definitely involved in fraud. They break all the rules of auditor independence, whether that’s self interest threat, self review, familiarity or advocacy and perhaps even intimidation. On top of this, audit reports being signed by 23 and 24 year old ‘partners’ with little to no experience whatsoever. This is absolutely unheard of in the West and would be scandalous.
At the very least, the CA professional body should do an investigation into this firm’s dealings. If that doesn’t happen, it looks bad on the entire profession and casts doubt over the capital markets in the country for foreign investors.
There is a reason why general and institutional investors usually shy away from Chinese companies, even when Chinese companies provided audited financials from big 4 firms in HK or Singapore. Those numbers cannot be trusted. This is why global capital flows to the US during global recessions, because US institutions and capital markets are trustworthy.
You jump to conclusions too quickly Qureishi.
Adani’s revenues were around $ 20 billion in 2022. That is a pittance compared to even large Indian business houses like Birla, Tata and Ambani, let alone US businesses.
I think Adani’s media profile far eclipses his actual commercial footprint. The company is 39th in this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_in_India
@Vikram
Please also look at number 42, number 43, number 46 and number 48
add them up, by market cap.
Now compare
‘He’s a bastard but he’s our bastard’
100% agree here. Adani group trying to play into Indian nativist sentiment…
“Adani Group, in response to Hindenburg Research’s accusation that they enlisted Shah Dhandharia, a small accounting firm to audit the conglomerate, said that it is their responsibility to ensure that homegrown, small companies get all the support they require to develop into big companies. ”
Lol. They are so full of shit.
BJP / Modi should distance themselves.
Looks like Ambanis, Mittals, Jindals and others pitched in and rescued the FPO. Not sure how much of it was driven by pure business sense vs some kind of political pressure.
Don’t think this drama ends with just 1 episode…
One outcome could be divvying up of the assets among the latest creditors.
Bania Samaj to the rescue 😉
thewarlock, you are underestimating the level of Brahmin, Rajput and OBC jealousy towards the success of other groups. The social capital of these castes, based on exclusion and domination, does not translate to the modern era.
dude. wtf. You make 99 great comments and then 1 such a stupid, conspiratorial one.
There is no jealousy towards successful banias in any of these groups. Banias get along with every caste in India except perhaps Jatt Sikhs for whom “Bania” is word of abuse. This is the reason why perhaps Punjab is lagging industrially.
Also talking about “exclusion and domination”, lots of Banias used to be as clannish as any other group in India. If Brahmins “dominated” due to ritual status, Rajputs and OBCs through thuggery, Banias have been “dominating” through money-power throughout historical times. The stereotype of a fat “lala-ji” who adulterates edible oil and hoards grain during pandemics was not for nothing.
Things have changed however. Modern capitalism has taught Indians that money can be made without deceitful methods.
Maintaining caste is probably the last thing on the mind of most modern Banias (as also with any other caste be it Brahmins, OBCs, Rajputs etc) I’ve come across in academic and professional life. People want to marry for looks, money and education. Across India lots of intermixing is happening in marriages now.
Regarding this Adani business too, you can see from the comments of most nationalist Indians that they would not like Adani (and thus India) suffer from the Hindenburg report.
My personal opinion is that this is a political attack on Adani and thus the Modi govt. by motivated groups. India stock markets are murky and lot of shady business happens. Adani, IMO hasn’t been doing anything too far from what is usual for Indian business conglomerates. Because of Adani’s closeness with the Modi govt, the company has its fingers in multiple infrastructure projects across India. As Indian citizens, we want Adani to successfully deliver the projects and not crash and burn. Hence I hope Adani successfully maneuvers across this issue.
Ofcourse, ideally, we would want the stock market to be cleaned up and well regulated, crony capitalism reduced but building infra fast should not be held hostage to the creation of a perfect market. Adani is one company which is showing appetite for taking risk. One hopes he is successful.
@Janamejaya, I appreciate your comment. Full apologies to the other communities I stereotyped.
I agree with your assessment that this ‘expose’ seems motivated. I will say that Adani would have been prominent even if the Congress was in power.
‘There is no jealousy towards successful banias in any of these groups. Banias get along with every caste in India ‘
I mean i know folks , one in down South and the other in the East , who might disagree…
The level of conspiracy theorizing here is incredible. According to some folks, on behest of Adani, Modi is:
1) Getting journalists bumped off (which ones btw ?).
2) Making SEBI look the other way as he scams away and potentially destroy’s India’s capital markets.
3) Making other Indian billionaires and even UAE groups invest huge sums in his company.
The silliness of shifting goalposts and invention of more and more incredulous stories to justify why predictions didnt come true. First, his stocks would nosedive. They didnt. Because Modi. Then no one will subscribe to his FPO. They did. Because Modi. He wasnt exposed by Indian journalists. Because Modi.
Adani’s revenue more than doubled from 2009 to 2014 when UPA was in power. But apparently Modi was still able to protect him from SEBI and journalists then.
Interesting or some might say conspiratorial article on zerohedge tying the adani fiasco, modi, IN-RU north south corridor, Azerbaijan and Armenia conflict.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russias-sanction-proof-trade-corridor-india-frustrates-neocons
@sbarrkum had also posted similar link on open thread.
Seems neocons want IN to be strong and United enough to be vassal but not so strong that IN is completely independent. JS referred to this as west’s Goldilocks syndrome wrt IN.
CN otoh wants IN to be independent enough so that it does not become US vassal but not strong enough to challenge her either economically or strategically.
Interesting set of constraints that IN faces.
Why don’t you guys support Adani group if this is a conspiracy? Buy Adani group stocks, this should be an opportunity of a lifetime. Right? You may have an upside potential of 100-200%. 😛
I see that most of the comments here are leaning to one side of confirmation bias that to me seems negative towards Adani – w/e the base reason could be – a detest for current GOI or its main leaders, and the perception of Adani’s closeness with them, etc. Hence for a balanced discussion here’s some points for wider context, as well as perspective that may very well be perceived as the opposing view, or the confirmation bias in favor of Adani. This opinion is based reading and analysis from IIM profs and CA’s based in India.
Three key things are to be noted from this whole situation.
1. The timing of this short-sell report – why now exactly before Adani’s FPO? And not before, sorry can’t say they needed time to do research, etc.
2. The attempt to link Adani’s business activities with the current government/party/leader in power in India – so if Adani’s wrong, by default so is the current GOI.
3. This notion that Adani or corporates in India represent the Indian economy – unlike US where corporates largely represent their GDP, in India corporates represent 9-12% roughly of their GDP – it’s largely driven by agriculture and other small and medium business.
For wider context
1. Who is this short-seller, what’s their track record, and why should their word be considered the only right one
a. I understand this short seller has a sketchy background, and under the radar of the US state dept.
b. There’s lots of contradictions and things in the air in their own report, and many of the things they’ve noted are addressed in the public filings and prospectuses of Adani companies.
c. Short selling is an important function of the market, but there’s enough track record of incorrect and market manipulating short sellers
d. They sight and refer to opposition party members from India – so to say it’s not political would be incorrect
2. Why does Adani have to prove himself in an American court?
a. So should all world’s matters only be resolved by American courts and/or the US state dept.
3. The question regarding his audit firms
a. So, in India a CA can only sign off on so many audits, and after a point junior partners sign off. Adani has hired the major audit companies, and if anyone has issues about their reporting of figures, they can dispute that in court.
b. You have the most sophisticated financial institutions investing in their stock who are well aware of auditors and their standards
c. Is this to imply that no firm with an American/Western big 4 auditor ever commit fraud – so having one implies no chance of fraud?
4. Taxation
a. The short seller alludes to tax shelters in foreign location, etc. Reality is all major corporations including fortune 500, use these methods for tax planning, lower taxes.
5. Why does the Adani board have many family members
a. First of all it’s quite common to see major corporates run as family businesses in India and Asian countries in general.
b. The short sellers report further goes to address Adani family members in ridiculing and an unprofessional manner, which is pretty amateurish.
6. Adani has built actual hard assets and not intangible ones
a. Valuation concerns the short seller sights, are quite lame. What’s being overvalued? Do they hold tons of intangible assets on their balance sheet? They have tons of cash flow from actual major hard assets like ports and other infra., which are very stable.
b. Over-valuation does not imply fraud, but there’s various factors in terms of market sentiment and market cycle.
7. Link with BJP/Modi
a. Someone in the comment section noted Adani is a major donor to the party, etc. First of all, all major corporations donate to the BJP, including Tata, Reliance, Birla, etc. They also disclose it many times in their public filings (e.g. Tata). Major business people are open to their own political leanings, and often donate based on their perception of public sentiment – these same major’s were donors of the Congress party (opposition party) when they were in power in the last +60 years. Business people are shrewd enough to support those who’re more development orientated and have the trend in public.
i. Also, the BJP does not depend on Adani’s donations or any single corporate’s. Majority of their donations are from average folks. Whether their donations are clean, is a debate that can not be made without scrutinizing the donations of all political parties, and their processes.
b. Globally, no major businessman or corporation achieves success without the support of the government, regardless of party. So to just single out Adani or the BJP is more agenda then understanding of the history of the system, and or the broader business world. Of course, there are ethical boundaries.
c. If one sees the wider context, it’s quite evident that Modi/BJP don’t have any material stake in Adani – if he collapses tomorrow (which he won’t), it makes no difference to them from a party point of view or even economy. Yes, he’s a valuable major businessman b/c of the resume they’ve built in infra, but in the event of a collapse, there are various others who can buy him out.
d. Overall India is operating in a much open and freer market than ever before – e.g. the license raj of Indira Gandhi – and hence crony capitalism is more difficult now than before.
e. Fact is for all major countries, the major corporations are also part of the country’s nationalist agenda – including the US pushing it’s own Pharma, Defense, Agri, Oil, Tech on other countries. What’s wrong with India developing it’s own nationalist extensions via its home grown major corporates.
‘ If one sees the wider context, it’s quite evident that Modi/BJP don’t have any material stake in Adani – if he collapses tomorrow (which he won’t), it makes no difference to them from a party point of view or even economy. ‘
Its both sad and amusing how dumb our Indian opposition/Left really is. This whole event is re-hash of ‘Modi won because of WhatsApp’ phenomena.
On the economy front, with Modi weathering the whole COVID/Recession years and coming out unscathed, has shaken the opposition. The Indian economy would only stable henceforth, and without a black swan event, the opposition sees no chance of comeback. Adani, they think, can be their Evergrande.
Problem for any domestic opposition, or foreign NGO’s and governments, is they don’t have ground level connect or understanding of India. They try to use the western frameworks or frameworks from other major countries and try to apply it to India. And when that doesn’t work, they again use reasoning based on foreign frameworks as to why they got it wrong in the first place.
hindenburg involved in exposing this ponzi scheme https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/02/01/mormon-ponzi-scheme-vegas-fbi/
Adani fpo is recalled. Next check I assume would be ability to service his large debt.
I think perhaps he will scrap some of his upcoming projects. I know the states which will be at the crossfire 😉
BJP supporters are really making a false hero out of Adani. Quite a bit of shenanigans happening there.
Most admirable Indian billionaire in my eyes is Sridhar Vembu.
He lives modestly in a small village in India.
Also a BJP supporter type guy, his bootstrapped software company Zoho has a product line that competes with Google and Microsoft.
No IPO raised, no swindling the retail investors etc.
Nah, if shit really hit the fans, Adani will be dropped like a hot potato like how no one today remembers Anil Ambani.
If anything BJP might be low key wishing that shit really hit the fans, since that will make Adani even more beholden to the govt in power for his rescue, making him a wholesale BJP’s inhouse corporate, something like what DLF was to the Congress.
And considering how Adani has acted like a small time dodgy lala ( those shady auditors etc) even when he became big, unlike Ambani, who became a international player, i think its better for him, he stays out of limelight and being less rich.
Sridhar is a great man, and personal favorite of mine. But he’s in a different business – software, and as a billionaire CEO, he can afford to live like he does. It’s encouraging, but reality is most software people can’t live like that b/c still there’s not enough facility in small villages of India – medical, private schooling, etc.
Adani has built big infra – he has some of the best run ports.
Overall, the timing is sketchy, as it happened just before the budget session, and we’re seeing ruckus by opposition causing parliament session to adjourn early.
Why does living ‘modestly’ in a small village make someone a great man ?
And doing an IPO is a good thing, not a bad thing. There is a reason hundreds of thousands of Mumbaikars came out to Dhirubhai Ambani’s funeral.
IPO is supposed to be a neutral means to raise capital. But in practice prone to rug pulls and other manipulation by the management. (Due to principal/ agent problem).
Retail investors are dumb and especially prone to this type of thing.
So we end up with lots of regulations, it is quite difficult to IPO in America (post-Sarbanes-Oxely esp). Many companies end up using workarounds like SPACs.
Can see non-regulated early finance type rugpulls in the crypto space.
I am not as familiar with Indian regulations. But in this case Adani doing shady things to circumvent basic systems designed to protect investors (eg hiring independent/ competent auditors).
The other issue is regulatory capture / crony capitalism which is inherent in the types of business Adani and Dhirubhai are engaged in.
I don’t judge Adani too harshly on this as it is a broader systemic issue and as someone mentioned just the nature of the business.
But I want to point out it is possible to create value for shareholders while fleecing country as a whole (for eg. If the auction process for something like the telecom spectrum or mining rights etc is unfair).
In Zoho’s case it is not possible for them to win via either of these methods. So they are default honest and have to win via consensual transactions with their customers.
The fact that they managed to build a globally competitive software suite that competes successfully against google and Microsoft’s offerings while providing opportunities to Indians in smaller cities and towns is impressive to me.
Modesty is a virtue to me personally for spiritual / religious reasons. I believe in having impact but don’t hold ostentatious uses of wealth in high regard. Ymmv.
Jain philosophy says this too
These are the reasons why it is not a hit idea to make adani/ambani/tata etc our mascots. There is just too much dependent on regulation. They are needed for sure. No need to demonize them either. If possible have more of them if possible In the regulated sector.
The zoho, electric scooter type guys are the ones we should highlight.
https://theprint.in/national-interest/market-has-won-now-its-for-adani-to-decide-whether-he-will-lose-or-not/1353029/
‘While the conglomerate called it a foreign conspiracy to attack and damage India and its institutions, the government, the entire finance ministry establishment, regulators and the ruling party leadership have all kept mum. Never mind the flag.
If India’s most powerful political establishment in almost five decades responds to a situation like this as if it’s something that must only play out between a corporate and the market, it is the coming of age of Indian capitalism. It is as if ‘let the market take its course’ is the new ‘let the law take its own course’.
I hope SG is correct. This thing looks a bit murkier than a bunch of young one’s looking to make a quick billion:
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/hindenburg-bet-against-indias-adani-puzzles-rival-us-short-sellers-2023-02-01/