'Committed to ensuring market integrity amid market volatility': SEBI assures as Adani Group shares nosedive

The stock market regulator’s statement comes amid the ongoing controversy over the blood bath faced by stocks of the embattled Adani group over allegations of financial irregularities and market manipulation in a report published by American short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Releasing an official statement after rising demands for a probe into the matter, the market watchdog said, "SEBI is committed to ensuring market integrity and to ensuring that the markets continue to have the appropriate structural strength to function in an uninterrupted, transparent and efficient manner as has been the case so far."

Without naming the Adani Group, SEBI said, “During the past week, unusual price movement in the stocks of a business conglomerate has been observed. As part of its mandate, SEBI seeks to maintain orderly and efficient functioning of the market and has put in place a set of well-defined, publicly available surveillance measures (including the ASM framework) to address excessive volatility in specific stocks.”

"This mechanism gets automatically triggered under certain conditions of price volatility in any stock," the regulator said.

The stock prices of the listed companies of Gautam Adani's ports-to-energy conglomerate lost more than half of their market value since the release of the report.

SEBI’s assurance follows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said losses were a part of the market's process and that the country's money was safe, putting speculations about the wobbly share market at present to rest.

"So the regulators will do their jobs. Actually, for keeping the market regulated well in prime condition, the Sebi is the authority and it has the wherewithal to keep that prime condition intact," Sitharaman had said.

On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India also said that the country's banking system remained stable and resilient.

SEBI underscored that India’s financial market has maintained stability and is continuing to function in a transparent, fair, and efficient manner.

"On a longer-term basis also, Indian markets have been viewed positively by investors. A cross-country comparison of dollar-adjusted market returns with both peer and developed countries, during the past three years till date, places the Indian market as a positive outlier," it stated.

Meanwhile, the Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complied with all laws and compliance.

In a 413-page response, Adani group said the Hindenburg report was driven by "an ulterior motive" to "create a false market" to allow the US firm to make financial gains.

Adani Enterprises Ltd also called off its Rs 20,000-crore follow-on share sale a day after it was fully subscribed.

Adani said the company's board felt that "going ahead with the issue will not be morally correct" amid the market turmoil.