FT Report On Adani Group A Conspiracy To Weaken India's Economy, Says Mahesh Jethmalani

The Financial Times report on Adani Group is a conspiracy to weaken the Indian economy, said senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani. The report is an attempt to disturb the country's economy and bring instability in it, he told NDTV Profit. FT had published this report quoting George Soros-backed OCCRP, which has been rejected, he said.

"Adani Group has got a clean chit from the Supreme Court in a very serious case. Someone made a lot of money illegally. Adani Group suffered a loss of $150 billion at that time. Someone earned it as profit. And now again an attempt is being made to defame them by spreading lies," Jethmalani said. "These people are doing this out of frustration."

The issue that has been brought forward now is from before 2014, according to the advocate. "Was the OCCRP investigation going on for so long? This shows that these people are doing this out of frustration."

At the time, there was no NDA government, there was the UPA government. If there was some irregularity, then the coal minister of that time should be put in the dock, he said.

The Financial Times report had accused the Adani Group of importing low-grade coal in 2013 and then selling the same coal to government-owned companies at the price of high-grade coal. A day later Cantor Fitzgerald rejected the report, calling it "noise" from a long time ago. "It seems as if the financial markets have ignored this report. The market believes that the report published against the Adani Group is immaterial," it said.

The Adani Group has also said there is no substance to the story and the markets also do not seem to believe it. "You see what the stock market is saying...today itself (on Thursday) the share of Adani Enterprises rose by 8.01%. Notice how such motivated reports are readily accepted by a section of the media. Also note that the report is published as soon as the market opens and is circulated within minutes."

"As soon as the Financial Times article was published on Oct. 12, 2023, many journalists from India and abroad immediately started re-posting and forwarding it. And then at 4:30 in the morning, the international web of conspiracy becomes active and in no time spreads across the world, including India. We believe that the story has no substance," it said.

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