New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India has asked Indian banks for details of their exposure to the Adani Group’s companies, Reuters and CNBC-TV18 have reported.
Both have quoted unnamed sources in banking and government.
CNBC-TV18 has reported that the RBI sought this information as part of a new SoP to address “new developments that may have taken place.”
The ‘new developments’ mentioned in this report possibly refer to the aftermath of the US short-seller Hindenburg Research alleging that Adani Group is involved in stock manipulation and accounting fraud. Companies of the Adani conglomerate have lost billions since the report. This revelation came days before a Rs 20,000 crore (US $2.5 billion) share offering by Adani Enterprises. A day ago Adani decided to call off its fully subscribed follow-on public offer.
CNBC-TV18 noted that it is standard practice for the RBI to seek information in such cases as central databases may not have the latest information, especially on pledged shares, the news outlet reported. The Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) which collects, stores, and published data on all borrowers’ credit exposures only updates “some data weekly and some, monthly,” it noted, purportedly to explain why RBI might be seeking relevant information.
According to an earlier report by Reuters, SEBI is undertaking a full-scale examination of the fall in shares.
Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc.’s wealth arm has stopped accepting securities of Adani Group firms as collateral for margin loans, shortly after a similar decision by the Credit Suisse Group AG.