Opposition members in the Standing Committee on Finance, on Tuesday, demanded summoning SEBI, RBI and LIC for their oral evidence submission on the Adani-Hindenburg issue. Chairman of the Committee, Jayant Sinha, asked them to present their issues in writing to which the Opposition MPs agreed.

A meeting of the Standing Committee was called on Wednesday to adopt its report on Demands for Grants related to Finance Ministry for FY24 and to discuss the MPLAD (Member of Parliament) issue. However, according to sources, just before taking up the formal agenda, Manish Tewari of the Congress party demanded that the committee should recall regulators, LIC and government officials for questioning on the Adani matter.

Sources said that Teawri has the support of other Opposition MPs, including Sougata Ray (TMC); Gaurav Gogai (Congress); and Hemant Shrriam Patil (Shiv Sena), among others. However, BJP MPs, including SS Ahluwalia, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Sushil Modi, said that when the matter is sub-judice and also being examined by SEBI, what would be the justification for summoning the regulators. Countering this, Opposition MPs said that there have been instances of examination of the issue by the committee even when the matter was sub-judice.

Finally, Jayant Sinha urged Opposition MPs to give their demand in writing, to which all of them agreed. On Monday, in a written response, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, had said in Lok Sabha that the nine listed companies of Adani Group witnessed a decline of around 60 per cent of market capitalisation from January 24 till March 1, subsequent to the report published by Hindenburg Research.

“The volatility in the stocks of these companies has not had any significant impact at the systemic level. Nifty 50 declined by around 4.5 per cent during the same period,” he had said. Hindenburg had, in January, made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against Adani Group, following which shares of the Group had taken a beating. The Group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

SVB fallout

Meanwhile, sources said, the committee is expected to discuss fallout of US-based Silcon Valley Bank in a separate meeting in a week or so.  On this, one opposition MP said that when Committee can take up the issue of one foreign bank, why it cannot discuss the issue of one group.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW