On June 11, the total market capitalisation of Adani Group was Rs 9,50,000 crore. The group's market cap ended at Rs 7,90,279 crore today, resulting in Rs 1,59,721 crore market cap loss this week.
The stocks of Adani Group were under tremendous selling pressure this week. Shares of Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green and Adani Power ended in the red for the fifth straight day.
However, the flagship companies, Adani Enterprises, and Adani Ports saw renewed buying interest today. Adani Enterprises ended 8.76 per cent higher at Rs 1487.85 against the previous close of Rs 1367.95 and Adani Ports ended 7.39 per cent higher at Rs 694.60 on BSE.
Earlier this week, the investors went on a huge selling spree following reports that the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) has frozen the accounts of three foreign funds that together own shares worth Rs 43,500 crore in four Adani Group companies.
The Economic Times had reported that the NSDL had frozen the accounts of three foreign funds due to insufficient disclosure on beneficial ownership. The reports of a freeze on these accounts had sent Adani group stocks plummeting to record levels.
The market cap of Adani Group fell more than 10 per cent or nearly Rs 1.03 lakh crore in the morning session on Monday. Investors in listed companies of the group, who enjoyed the dream run in 2020 and 2021, have incurred heavy losses since then.
The Adani Group termed the report as "blatantly erroneous" and that it was "done to deliberately mislead the investing community".
The stocks of Adani Group pared some losses after the clarification from NSDL but still witnessed continuous selling pressure.
The group also shot an email to the NSDL, asking the status of three foreign funds. It also provided the details of Demat accounts of the three funds mentioned in media reports, including APMS Investment Fund Ltd, Albula Investment Fund Ltd, and Cresta Fund Ltd.
Most of the funds are based out of Mauritius and a few of them are inactive too. They are registered at the same address in Port Louis and don't have websites.
Later, Rakesh Mehta, Vice President of National Securities Depository Ltd said that the accounts of three foreign funds that are among the biggest backers of the Adani group are "active" and not frozen.
"I don't think the market is convinced with the quality of the clarification from the Adani group," Jimeet Modi, founder of Mumbai-based Samco Securities, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list, Adani's net worth fell to $63.2 billion. At the beginning of the week, Adani's net worth was above $77 billion.
As a result of this bloodbath, Gautam Adani is no longer Asia's second-richest person and has lost more money than anyone in the world this week.
He has lost the dreamy title to Zhong Shanshan, who has again bagged the second spot behind Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited.
Shanshan who chairs bottled water company Nongfu Spring and controls Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy had menial jobs before becoming China's richest man.
Before he started his business of bottled water, Shanshan reportedly tried his hand in various ventures including growing mushrooms, founding a private newspaper, and selling curtains.
According to the data on Bloomberg, seven foreign funds own the majority of public shareholding in Adani Group. These funds are Vespera Fund, Elara India Opportunities, Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund, APMS Investment Fund, Asia Investment Corp, and LTS Investment Funds.
Albula Investment fund and APMS Investment fund have put more than 95% of their investments in Adani group firms. Cresta Fund too has parked in 97.7% of their investments in the Adani Transmission, Adani Enterprises, and Adani Total.
Asia Investment Corporation Ltd held a stake in three companies of Adani group, which accounted for 99% of its portfolio. Vespera Fund Ltd held a stake in four companies of the Group which accounted for over 98% of its portfolio.