Business | Uncapsized

Can Gautam Adani ride out the storm?

India’s embattled tycoon appears to be regaining his footing

Art school teacher Sagar Kambli gives final touches to a painting of Indian businessman Gautam Adani highlighting the ongoing crisis of the Adani group in Mumbai on February 3, 2023. - Beleaguered Indian tycoon Gautam Adani on Februaryt 3 denied that his rise to become Asia's richest man -- a title he has lost in a phenomenal stock rout -- was due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP) (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images) — Image: Getty Images

Mar 16th 2023|Mumbai

When a New York short-seller’s report wiped some $150bn, or two-thirds, from the combined value of the Adani Group’s listed holdings in late January and early February, several big questions were keeping India Inc up at night. Would Indian banks and insurance companies with significant exposure to the ports-to-power conglomerate also teeter? Would the contagion spread to the rest of the Indian financial world? And would India’s government pursue an aggressive investigation into the short-seller’s allegations of fraud and stockmarket manipulation, which set off the imbroglio (and which the Adani Group vehemently denies)?

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Uncapsized”