Adani Group stocks under pressure as co's auditor EY under inquiry by NFRA

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initiated an inquiry against one of the member firms of Adani Group's longtime auditors EY. The inquiry was started in recent weeks against S.R. Batliboi, one of EY's member firms in India, a report by Bloomberg informed.

Adani Power shed the most, as much as 7.4 percent to its day's low of ₹289.30 followed by Adani Green, down 7 percent. Adani Total Gas and Adani Wilmar also delcined 5 percent each whereas Adani Enterprises and Adani Energy Solutions lost over 4 percent each. Meanwhile, Adani Ports was down 2 percent.

Acquired entities like ACC, Ambuja Cements and New Delhi Television were also down up to 4 percent in intra-day deals. The regulator has requested files and communications related to its audits on some of the companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani going as far back as 2014, the report claimed, adding that it was unclear how long NFRA’s inquiry could take or what repercussions, if any, could be faced by the auditor and Adani’ Group companies. S.R.

Batliboi, notably, is the statutory auditor of five listed Adani companies that produce about half of the group’s revenues. The inquiry, as claimed in the report, underscores the lingering questions around accounting and disclosures by the ports-to-power conglomerate that faced a brutal short seller attack in January. SR Batliboi is the current auditors for Adani Power Ltd, Adani Green Energy Ltd, ACC, Ambuja Cements Ltd and Adani Wilmar Ltd.