New India-centric report on the way? ‘Something big soon’, says US Short Seller Hindenburg

NEW DELHI: Hindenburg Research, a US-based firm, has recently hinted at a potential new report focused on India, more than a year after it made allegations against the Adani group of companies, accusing them of insider trading and other stock market violations.
The cryptic message, posted on the company’s X social media account, simply stated, “Something big soon India.”
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report alleging financial irregularities within the Adani Group, which led to a significant drop in the company’s stock price.The group, at the time, denied these claims.
The report specifically accused the conglomerate of stock manipulation and fraud, leading to a sharp fall in the shares of various Adani group companies, reportedly amounting to over USD 100 billion in losses. The US short seller‘s report was released just two days before Adani Enterprises issued a $2.5 billion follow-up public offering.
Mahesh Jethmalani, a senior Indian lawyer and BJP leader, alleged in July 2023 that Mark Kingdon, a US-based businessman with Chinese links, had commissioned the Hindenburg Research report.
Jethmalani claimed that Kingdon, along with his wife Anla Cheng, hired Hindenburg Research to prepare the report on the Adani Group. He further alleged that they used Kotak Mahindra Investments Limited (KMIL) to set up a trading account for short-selling Adani shares, making millions in profits at the expense of Indian retail investors.
Jethmalani also called on the government to investigate the links between political voices targeting the Adani group after the Hindenburg report and China, suggesting that the hit job on the Adani group was Chinese retaliation for losing out on infrastructure projects like the Haifa Port.
The Supreme Court has given a clean chit to the Adani group regarding the Hindenburg charges, based on a report by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The apex court also recently dismissed a review petition to constitute a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue.
In June 2023, during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Adani Enterprises, Group Chairman Gautam Adani addressed the allegations, stating that they were “faced with baseless accusations made by a foreign short seller, that questioned our decades of hard work.”