Adani Green Energy Case: Adani Group has got a big relief. Market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) on Friday acquitted Pranab Adani, director of several Adani Group companies and nephew of veteran businessman Gautam Adani, of the charges of sharing sensitive information related to prices and violation of rules related to inside trading. SEBI has acquitted not only Pranab Adani but also his two other relatives from these charges. In this case, SEBI had sent notice to Pranab Adani as well as his sister’s husband Nirupal Dhanpalbhai Shah and cousin’s husband Kunal Dhanpalbhai Shah.
What was the whole matter?
The case in which SEBI has given clean chit to Pranab Adani and his relatives was whether Pranab Adani had shared confidential and price-sensitive information related to the acquisition of SB Energy to anyone before it became public. SB Energy was acquired by Adani Green. To investigate this, SEBI examined the transactions of shares of Adani Green Energy between 28 January 2021 and 20 August 2021. After reviewing the investigation report in November 2023, SEBI felt that there could be a violation of rules related to inside trading in the case and hence issued a show cause notice to Pranab Adani, Kunal Dhanpal Bhai Shah and Nirupal Dhanpal Bhai Shah on 10 November 2023.
What came to light in the investigation?
SEBI investigated the matter in detail. In this, SEBI did not find any evidence that Pranab Adani had shared any kind of confidential information or that the Shah brothers had transacted shares on the basis of inside information. SEBI has said in its 50-page order that the call of May 16, 2021 was not made for Pranav to share any confidential information. Kunal and Nirupal transacted the shares as per their understanding rather than being influenced by any confidential information.
An important part of this case was a phone call. This call was made by Kunal to Pranav Adani on 16 May 2021, which SEBI was assuming that confidential information was shared in it. However, during investigation, SEBI came to know that the information about the acquisition of SB Energy had already appeared in the news on the same day before this call. Let us tell you that on May 19, 2021, Adani Green Energy had announced at 08:20:21 am that it has entered into share purchase agreements with SoftBank Group and Bharti Global for the acquisition of SB Energy.
Now since SEBI has found that no inside information was used in the share transactions, no penalty has been imposed nor any direction has been issued. With this, SEBI disposed of the show cause notice issued in November 2023 and the matter came to an end.