View: Indian tycoons Ambani and Adani won't step on each other's toes

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Gautam Adani can’t afford a costly distraction. While his core infrastructure business is booming, there’s little reprieve from the governance issues that have dogged the Adani Group since New York-based Hindenburg Research’s allegations of stock-price manipulation and undisclosed related-party transactions earlier this year. Despite its strenuous denial of the short-seller’s report, the conglomerate’s market value has sagged more than $100 billion since January.

A fresh blow arrived Saturday as Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, the auditor of Adani’s ports unit, abruptly resigned the same week June quarter results showed record revenue and operating profit. In its full-year audit of May 30, Deloitte had said that the legal opinion the group provided on the veracity of Hindenburg’s allegations was inadequate and that an independent external examination was warranted. The accounting firm’s Aug.

8 quarterly review reiterated those concerns. The auditor’s exit is a timely reminder that while growth will suppress governance concerns, it won’t make them go away. India’s market watchdog on Monday asked the Supreme Court in New Delhi for another 15 days to wind up its inquiry into the group.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is investigating possible violation of rules concerning minimum public shareholding, related-party transactions and manipulation of stock prices. To shore up investor confidence, the Adani family has raised billions of dollars. The group has also doubled down on expansion by acquiring a cement company and announcing a $3.7 billion capital-expenditure plan for the current fiscal year.