The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought details about lenders’ exposures to the Adani Group, banking sources said, a day after the conglomerate withdrew the `20,000-crore follow on public offer (FPO) of its flagship firm Adani Enterprises amid the steep fall in its stock prices.
The going has been tough for the diversified conglomerate over the past week ever since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research levelled a slew of allegations about the group’s operations, calling it the biggest corporate con ever.
The Ahmedabad-headquartered group has denied all the allegations but failed to convince analysts and investors.
The RBI gets access to banks’ large corporate borrowers on a regular basis as part of the central repository of information on large credits (CRILC) data base, the banking sources said.
There has been selling pressure in banks’ stocks since the Hindenberg Research’s report released on January 24 as investors are concerned about the impact of the crisis on banks’ books. Country’s largest lender SBI had said it’s exposure to Adani group is fully secured by cash generating assets, in an attempt to assuage investor concerns. Another public sector lender Bank of Baroda has said its total exposure to the embattled group stood at `7,000 crore, which are also fully secured.
