His comments came as the title Adani Enterprises, flagship of his conglomerate, had just plunged 10% at the opening of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which suspended the quotation of the action several times.

It fell 30% in the morning and ended in the green, gaining 1.25% to 1,584.20 rupees (19.33 USD).

The group's stock market debacle sparked by accusations of accounting fraud by US investment firm Hindenburg Research last week continued on Friday.

Adani Power, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, of which French giant TotalEnergies owns 37.4%, and Adani Transmission also saw their trading suspended on Friday morning.

TotalEnergies judged on Friday "limited" its "exposure" linked to its participation in several joint ventures with the Adani group.

The French group welcomed the announcement made by Adani to "entrust a general audit mission to one of the four major global financial audit firms".

Well-regulated markets

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that her country's markets were "well regulated" and that the Gautam Adani conglomerate's stock market debacle would not affect investor confidence.

"A single case, although it has caused a lot of ink to flow around the world, is not indicative of how Indian financial markets are governed," Ms Sitharaman said.

Parliament had earlier adjourned for the second day in a row as opposition MPs urged the government to debate Adani and expose Indian financial institutions to the group.

According to the tycoon's critics, his closeness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, both from Gujarat state, helped him win deals and avoid proper scrutiny.

"Professional success"

“These allegations are baseless,” he objected Friday morning on the television channel India Today, adding that the fact that the two men were born in Gujarat made him an “easy target”.

"The fact is that my professional success is not due to a single leader but to the political and institutional reforms initiated by several leaders and governments over a long period of more than three decades," he added.

Adani Electricity offices in Bombay, January 31, 2023 © Punit PARANJPE / AFP/Archives

Mr Adani's conglomerate is facing accusations of "brazen stock manipulation and a decades-long accounting fraud scheme" by investment analyst firm Hindenburg Research.

The group reacted to it on Sunday by claiming to be the victim of a "malicious" attack aimed at tarnishing its reputation.

The conglomerate's combined market capitalization has fallen by more than $120 billion since the publication of the Hindenburg Research report.

Gautam Adani has seen his personal fortune plummet by tens of billions of dollars, which has taken him out of the Top 10 of the world's greatest fortunes compiled by Forbes in real time.

He lost his title as the richest man in Asia.

The Adani Group on Wednesday evening canceled its follow-on public offering (FPO) of $2.5 billion of shares in Adani Enterprises which had been oversubscribed the previous day, as the struggling tycoon considered it would not be "morally correct" to continue the operation.

"no immediate impact"

The sale was supposed to help reduce the company's worrying debt levels and restore confidence by broadening its shareholder base.

On Wednesday, the title of Adani Enterprises ended trading on a fall of 28.45%.

According to the Bloomberg agency, this plunge would be linked to information that the banking group Credit Suisse had stopped accepting bonds from the Adani conglomerate as collateral for margin loans granted to its private banking clients.

The panels of a residential project undertaken by the company Adani Realty, in Bombay, February 2, 2023 © INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP

Asked by AFP, Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Since then, other banking groups like Citigroup in the United States have done the same, again according to Bloomberg, raising concerns about how Adani will be able to raise fresh funds.

Bonds rallied slightly on Friday, however, after banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan advised clients that parts of the Adani portfolio remained strong, Bloomberg reported, citing sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to a statement from ratings agency Fitch Ratings, the Hindenburg report has "no immediate impact" on the credit profiles of Adani's rated entities.

India's central bank has asked lenders for details of their exposure to the Adani Group whose interests include ports, telecoms, airports, media, coal, oil and solar power, Bloomberg reported citing sources. anonymous.

In his interview on Friday, Mr Adani claimed that only 32% of loans taken out by his companies were with Indian banks and almost half of their debt was with international bonds.

"My group and I are confident that we can keep our promises and do business in any part of the world," he also said.

© 2023 AFP