New Delhi: After the company’s auditor Deloitte, resigned, India’s largest private port operator, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone’s share dropped 3.7% in early trade on Monday, also dragging other group companies down.
Concerns over certain related party transactions flagged in a report by Hindenburg, an American short seller, and that the Adani group firm did not wish to look into independently led to Deloitte’s decision, a source told Reuters on Friday.
The Indian billionaire Gautam Adani led the group, has denied Hindenburg’s allegations of alleged improper use of tax havens and other business dealings.
The country’s market regulator is due to submit its final report on the Adani Group to the top court later in the day on its investigations into the short seller’s allegations.
“The spotlight is back on Adani Group stocks, and this time the auditor has raised concerns and resigned. Such developments are never welcomed by market participants,” said Prashant Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities.
Over the weekend, Adani Ports said that the reason offered by Deloitte to quit was “not convincing or sufficient to warrant such a move”, and the global auditing enterprise had all the necessary information it required to perform the process.
Scrips of other Adani group companies, including the flagship Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Energy Solutions have declined between 4% and 5.5%.
