Adani rout has retail India investors snapping up Group’s stocks

Mumbai: Retail investors in India were buyers in most Adani Group companies as the unprecedented selloff sparked by short-seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations corrected their sky-high valuations.

Individual investors raised their holdings in eight of the 10 companies related to the ports-to-power group in the three months through March, including its flagship firm Adani Enterprises and a key unit that handles a big chunk of India’s ports, according to regulatory filings.

Life Insurance Corp of India, the nation’s largest insurer, slightly increased holdings in four Adani companies during the March quarter, data showed. Almost all Adani Group stocks traded higher in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The conglomerate led by billionaire Gautam Adani has sold stakes and conducted road shows to calm investors since US short-seller Hindenburg Research made allegations of accounting fraud and share price manipulation against the group in a scathing report published January 24. Adani has repeatedly denied the charges.

The epic meltdown in shares of Adani-linked companies touched $153 billion in February before Rajiv Jain, the chief investment officer of GQG Partners and one of the biggest names in emerging-market investing, backed the group with minority stake purchases in four firms.

“GQG’s investment formed a strong base for Adani shares and since then we are seeing improvement in investor sentiment, including retail investors,” said Abhay Agarwal, a fund manager with Mumbai-based Piper Serica Advisors.

Latest shareholding data for ACC and Adani Power, the two other firms linked to the group, wasn’t yet available on the BSE’s website.