Adani Ent dips 4% on reports SC stays Bombay HC ruling in coal import case

Shares of Adani Enterprises slipped as much as 4.6 per cent to Rs 194.65 on the BSE on Wednesday after media reports suggested that the Supreme Court (SC) has set aside Bombay High Court's order giving relief to the firm in the coal import case.

According to business channel CNBC TV18, the SC has sought reply from Adani Enterprises on plea by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) alleging over invoicing of imported coal. 

In October 2019,the Bombay High Court had quashed all Letters Rogatory (LRs) sent by the DRI to Singapore and other countries in its probe of Adani group firms for alleged overvaluation of Indonesian coal imports. 

The court had said that while it did not go into merits of LRs issued by a metropolitan magistrate, it found that no due procedure had been followed while issuing them.

At 1:24 pm, the stock was trading 3.3 per cent lower at Rs 197.25 per share, as against a 0.43 per cent decline in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. Barring Adani Green, which was locked in upper circuit band of 5 per cent, all other group stocks slipped in to the red. Adani Gas dipped up to 2.9 per cent, Adani Power (4.8 per cent), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (2.1 per cent), and Adani Transmission (2.8 per cent).

The case pertains to probe that was initiated by the DRI against a few Adani group firms for alleged overvaluation of coal imports from Indonesia between 2011 and 2015. LRs were issued to Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong, seeking help to access documents lying with overseas branches of three state-owned banks relating to transactions under the probe. Over Rs 29, 000 crore of coal imported is the subject matter of DRI probe.

According to media reports, DRI would probe 40 other companies in the said case, including Anil Ambani group, Essar group, Sajjan Jindal's JSW Energy and JSW Steel, Hyderabad- based NSL Group, India Cements apart from PSUs like sector NTPC, MMTC, Tamil Nadu SEB and Karnataka Power Corporation.

Subsequently, JSW Energy erased 2.4 per cent on the BSE, JSW Steel (3 per cent), and NTPC (2.3 per cent). All Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) stocks, including Reliance Power, Relaince Infrastructure, Reliance Capital, and Reliance Naval and Engineering, were down 5 per cent. On the other hand, Indian Cements and MMT continued to trade 2.35 per cent and 11.38 per cent higher, respectively.