on Jul 13, 2021)Mumbai: Ports tycoon Gautam Adani blamed “reckless and irresponsible” media reportage for the recent crash of his companies’ stock prices. Adani Group’s market capitalisation plunged last month after reports emerged that three of its foreign investors’ accounts were frozen by the depository NSDL.
“Recently, a few media houses indulged in reckless and irresponsible reporting related to administrative actions of regulators. This caused unexpected fluctuations in the market prices of Adani stocks,” Adani, 59, told shareholders of group flagship
. “Unfortunately, some of our small investors were affected by this twisted narrative in which some commentators and journalists seemed to imply that companies have regulatory powers over their shareholders and that companies can compel disclosure.” The stocks of six Adani companies, however, recovered subsequently after the conglomerate clarified that the said accounts remained active.
“In the long term, such diversions will not impact us,” said the chairman at Adani Enterprises’s e-AGM on Monday, adding, “We have always been a confident organisation that has taken on challenges that very few would dare or imagine.” A couple of months before the six companies’ stock prices tanked, the group’s market capitalisation had crossed the $100-billion mark in April. “This valuation milestone is a first for a first-generation Indian company.”
Adani, a college dropout, tried his hand in a couple of businesses before setting up Adani Enterprises in 1988. A decade later, he started to operate the Mundra port in Gujarat, and since then he has emerged as India’s largest private sector port player. Adani has a net worth of $56 billion, according to Forbes.
