Will meet Adani Group management, seek clarification: LIC Chairman

LIC chairman M R Kumar on Thursday said the officials of the public sector insurer will soon meet top management of the Adani Group and seek clarification on the crisis being faced by the diversified conglomerate.

LIC's investment into Adani group firms' stock has come under criticism by the opposition parties as well as investors after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations against the Gautam Adani-led group, saying its companies manage and manipulate share prices, run offshore shell companies for round-tripping and lacking in corporate governance practices.

"Though our investor team has already sought clarifications from the Adanis, our top management could contact them yet as we have been busy preparing the results. We are soon going to call them to meet us and explain. We want to understand what is happening in the market and in the group," the chairman told reporters at the earnings conference on Thursday.

"We'll be calling them in sometime soon to know how are they managing the whole crisis," Kumar added.

Kumar, however, refused to give a timeline of the meeting between LIC and Adani group officials.

Since the publication of the Hindenberg report on January 24, three days before the launch of the group's flagship Adani Enterprises' Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO), the value of the group companies' stocks have lost more than USD 100 billion or about 60 per cent from their January 24 value.

The FPO was fully subscribed but called off a day later by the management.