The setback faced by the ruling BJP in securing a majority on its own is unlikely to derail the Adani group’s massive “$90 billion capex plan’’ over the next decade.
The conglomerate has been on an upward curve after the damaging Hindenburg report in January last year which had at one point of time wiped out almost $150 billion of its market value.
All of its group companies are now charting expansion plans with some of them expecting the new government to undertake privatisation of airports and open up more high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems to private players.
While the critics of the BJP, particularly the Congress, has accused it of being close to the conglomerate, sources close to the group said that political developments will not have any change in its expansion plans as it also has a presence in states where the Opposition parties rule.
For instance, in January this year the Adani group entered into a memorandum of understanding with Congress- ruled Telangana for investment of over ₹12,400 crore.
Market sources said that while Adani stocks cracked due to a knee-jerk reaction from the election results, they could stabilise over the next few sessions.
“It would have been a different case had the INDIA alliance won. But the NDA government is coming back to power and its two major alliance partners — JD (U) and the TDP — have not been vocal critics like the Congress,” an analyst with a foreign brokerage said.
In a recent note, Jefferies said that while the group is back on an expansion spree and targeting $90 billion capex, during 2023-24, it largely focussed on containing its debt and reducing founders’share pledge. It further noted that the net debt at the group level was stable at ₹2.2 trillion in 2023-24 against ₹2.3 trillion in the previous fiscal.
The results saw the Adani group being the worst hit with its combined market capitalisation collapsing by over ₹3.60 lakh crore. The reduced mandate for the BJP has raised questions about how aggressive it will be in going ahead with reform measures.
The shares of all its 10 listed firms crashed on the bourses with Adani Ports taking a severe beating. At close, while the country’s largest private port operator tanked 21.26 per cent, Adani Energy Solutions plunged 20 per cent, whereas Adani Enterprises lost 19.35 per cent.
Similarly, Adani Green Energy saw an erosion of 19.20 per cent, Adani Total Gas by 18.88 per cent, NDTV by 18.52 per cent. Among others, Adani Power ended 17.27 per cent lower, Ambuja Cements by 16.88 per cent, while ACC was down 14.71 per cent and Adani Wilmar by 9.98 per cent
The combined market valuation of all the 10 listed companies stood at ₹15,78,346.79 crore, recording a loss of ₹3.63 trillion from Monday’s ₹19,42,322.91 crore.
