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Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to bribe Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms on solar power contracts projected to bring in more than $2bn in profit.
Shares in Adani Group companies tumbled on Thursday after the 62-year-old tycoon, who chairs the multinational conglomerate and has been a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was indicted in New York on charges including securities fraud.
Adani, one of Asia’s richest men, was charged alongside seven others, including executives of Adani energy subsidiaries and former employees of a Canadian pension fund. His nephew Sagar Adani, who is the executive director at a renewables company founded by Gautam Adani, is also among the defendants.
US federal prosecutors said more than $250mn in bribes were “offered and promised” between 2020 and 2024 to people in the Indian government as part of the scheme, which was allegedly concealed from the US banks and investors from which they raised billions of dollars.
They claimed that Gautam Adani met an Indian official to “advance” the scheme.
The US attorney’s office in Brooklyn also charged three former employees of large Canadian pension fund CDPQ in connection with the alleged scheme, saying they obstructed an investigation into the bribes by deleting emails and agreeing to provide false information to the US government. CDPQ, which invests in infrastructure projects, is a shareholder in Adani companies.
The indictments threaten to reignite a reputational crisis for Adani Group, which has been trying to move past claims of accounting fraud and stock market manipulation made last year by US short seller Hindenburg Research. Adani has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Shares across Adani’s 10 listed companies dropped when Indian markets opened on Thursday. The conglomerate’s flagship Adani Enterprises was down 20 per cent and its mainstay ports business fell 16.4 per cent.
US deputy assistant attorney-general Lisa Miller said in a statement: “This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250mn in bribes to Indian government officials. These offences were allegedly committed by senior executives and directors to obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors.”
Prosecutors further alleged that the defendants “extensively documented their corrupt efforts” on mobile phones, on PowerPoint presentations and in Excel spreadsheets “that summarised various options for paying and concealing bribe payments”.
In a parallel civil lawsuit, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said the alleged bribes were paid in order to “secure [the Indian government’s] commitment to purchase energy at above-market rates that would benefit Adani Green and Azure Power”, two renewable energy companies in India.
Adani Green, which is building one of the largest solar plants in the world at Khavda in India’s western state of Gujarat, raised more than $175mn from US investors as part of a $750mn corporate bond while the scheme was ongoing, US regulators said.
Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani allegedly “induced US investors to buy Adani Green bonds through an offering process that misrepresented not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance programme but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes”, said Sanjay Wadhwa, acting director at the SEC’s enforcement division.
According to the regulator’s complaint, Sagar Adani allegedly told Azure executives and others about “incentives”, or bribes, he had been proposing to “motivate” state officials to agree contracts with the Indian government’s arm responsible for implementing renewable energy programmes.
Adani Group said in a statement that the allegations by the DoJ and SEC against directors of Adani Green were “baseless and denied . . all possible legal recourse will be sought”. Adani Green said it would suspend a planned $600mn bond issue.
CDPQ said: “CDPQ is aware of charges filed in the US against certain former employees. Those employees were all terminated in 2023 and CDPQ is co-operating with US authorities. In light of the pending cases, we have no further comment at this time.”
Azure did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gautam Adani has over the past two decades built his conglomerate into one of India’s most formidable industrial groups, diversifying from its core ports and trading business into mining, airports, coal and renewable power.
It has built or bid for power, port and other infrastructure projects in countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Israel, where it operates the port of Haifa.
In a post on X congratulating Donald Trump on his US election victory earlier this month, Adani said his group was “committed to leveraging its global expertise” and would invest $10bn in American energy security and infrastructure projects as part of the partnership between India and the US, with the aim of creating up to 15,000 jobs.
Adani’s rise in business has coincided with the India’s drive to harness private-sector expertise and capital to develop its infrastructure, which has accelerated during Modi’s decade in power.
The Indian National Congress party’s Rahul Gandhi, who became India’s opposition leader after this year’s general election, called for an investigation after the Hindenburg allegations and questioned Adani’s record of winning government tenders, as well as his close ties with ruling politicians including Modi, who is also from Gujarat.
On Thursday the party said the US indictment “vindicates” its demands it for a parliamentary probe. India’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong
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