RBI says Indian banks resilient, stable against Adani group companies' debts

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said India's banking sector remains resilient and stable after media reports expressed concern about the exposures of Indian banks to Adani Group.

Adani Group's listed companies lost over $100 billion in value in just over a week after short-seller Hindenburg Research's scathing report flagged concerns about the ports-to-energy conglomerate's debt levels and alleged stock manipulation, accounting fraud and the use of tax havens.

Noting that media reports have been expressing concerns about the exposures of Indian banks to a business conglomerate, the central bank said as the regulator and supervisor, the RBI maintains a constant vigil on the banking sector and on individual banks with a view to maintain financial stability.

The apex bank said, "The RBI has a Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database system where the banks report their exposure of Rs 5 crore and above which is used for monitoring purposes."

"As per the RBI’s current assessment, the banking sector remains resilient and stable. Various parameters relating to capital adequacy, asset quality, liquidity, provision coverage and profitability are healthy. Banks are also in compliance with the Large Exposure Framework (LEF) guidelines issued by the RBI," he said.

New York-based short-selling specialist firm Hindenburg Research on January 24 published a report making several adverse observations regarding accounting practices, related-party transactions, concentrated shares ownership by a few overseas investments firms and share price manipulation by the Adani group of companies.

The Adani group on January 29 gave a detailed response to the Hindenburg report, refuting the allegations and stating that most of the observations relate to matters that have been duly disclosed by the conglomerate in the past.

Shares of four Adani Group firms, including Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports bounced back on Friday after facing heavy drubbing in the past 6 days. The stock of Adani Enterprises rebounded 1.25 percent to settle at Rs 1,584.20 apiece on the BSE. During the day, it tumbled 35 percent to Rs 1,017.10 -- its one-year low.

Shares of Adani Ports also bounced back and climbed 7.98 percent to Rs 498.85 after falling 14.51 per cent to Rs 394.95 -- its one-year low -- during the day. Ambuja Cements rallied 6.03 percent and ACC climbed 4.39 percent.