Camilla Perotti, Banks and Coal Campaigner at BankTrack
Camilla Perotti, Banks and Coal Campaigner at BankTrack
A track record of environmental and human rights abuses, its ubiquity in global fossil fuel developments, and recent shocking allegations of deeply rooted fraud and corruption all combine to justify Adani as a major multinational Dodgy Deal. Specifically in relation to climate, its coal mines and coal power plants are responsible for severe adverse impacts on the environment and climate change. Adani is building thousands of megawatts worth of new coal power plants capacity.
Adani's financial supporters, from its investors to its bond underwriters, must pull their money from the corrupt and deeply harmful business activities of all the Adani Group subsidiaries.
| Take Action! |
| Tell Adani’s bankers and investors to rule out any further funding for the entire Adani Group! |
| Sectors | Coal Mining , Coal Electric Power Generation, Oil and Gas Extraction |
| Headquarters |
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| Ownership |
listed on Bombay Stock Exchange & NSE
The Adani Group is controlled by the Adani family. They operate a number of private businesses and hold a controlling share in Adani Enterprises. The group's structure can be viewed here. |
| Subsidiaries |
Adani Enterprises Ltd – India
Adani gas Ltd – India Adani Green Energy Ltd – India Adani ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd – India Adani power Ltd – India Adani Transmission Ltd – India |
| Website | http://www.adani.com |
Adani is an Indian multinational conglomerate, founded by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani in 1988. Its business units consist of resources (coal mining and trading), logistics (ports, railways and ships) and energy (power generation and transmission). It has coal mining interests in India, Indonesia, Australia and Bhutan and operates a series of massive coal power plants in India with a total installed capacity of 13,650 MW. In addition, Adani is planning to expand it's coal-fired installed capacity by another 3,200 MW. More recently, Adani's shares have dropped precipitously after evidence of systemic financial impropriety by the company.
Clearing ancestral forested lands Billions of tons of coal lie beneath the ancestral forests in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh and Adani Group, with the help of prime minister Narendra Modi, is planning to mine the coal. The forest, known as the Hasdeo forest, is a protected elephant habitat and the ancestral lands of the Indigenous Adivasi Gond People.
Incident at Gujarat power station Adani coal companies have claimed serious injuries and deaths in India. In 2016, 21 workers suffered horrendous burns at Adani’s coal-fired power station in Gujarat when a hot water pipe burst, seven of whom later died from their injuries.
Exploiting workforce An investigation by Fairfax Media found evidence that Adani were exploiting their Indian workforce by underpaying them, overworking them, and exposing them to lax health and safety standards. Many labourers working on a luxury housing project in Gujarat were reportedly forced to live in makeshift houses with dirt floors, and no running water or toilets. The poor sanitary conditions led to regular outbreaks of cholera from contaminated drinking water.
Impacts on tourism and local people In 2016 an Indian court found Adani Enterprises Ltd and other entities liable for failing to clean up after the unseaworthy coal ship they chartered sank off the coast of Mumbai in 2011 resulting in a massive oil spill which destroyed mangroves, polluted beaches and saw the spilling of coal into the sea. Adani Enterprises Ltd was fined the equivalent of AUD 975 000. The Judicial members recognised that both the sinking itself and the fact that it had not been cleaned up for over five years were causes of serious damage, including damage to the tourism industry and local people.
Impacts on fisheries In January 2016 the Indian National Green Tribunal cancelled the environmental approval of Adani Hazira Port that it held for the development of port activities in the Hajira district, Surat. Justice Kingaonkar found Adani Hazira Port liable for illegally undertaking work without an environmental approval at Hajira, Surat. This blocked the access of 80 fishing families from the traditional village of Hajira to their traditional fishing zones. Adani Hazira Port Private Ltd was ordered to pay 25 crore (approx. AUD 4.8 million) for compensation and restoration.
Expanding coal power Adani is planning to expand its coal fired capacity by a whopping 8760 MW over the next years. Five coal power plants are either being built at the moment or are in the planning phase: the 1600 MW Godda power plant, the 1320 MW Pench power plant, the 2640 MW Dahej power plant, a 1600 MW expansion of the Udupi power station and a 1600 MW expansion of the Kawai power plant. Some of these power plants will be supplied by foreign coal, like the infamous Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, Australia. Others will be supplied by domestic coal, which is one of the reasons that Adani wants to exploit the coal fields beneath the Hasdeo Arand forests.
The expansion of the Kawai power plant has been on hold since September 2014 and the project appears to be cancelled, although it's still one of the 'upcoming power plants' on Adani Power's website. The Dahej power plant project appears to be deferred of abandoned as well, but is also still displayed as one of the 'upcoming power plants'.
History of breaching environmental regulations in India Research by Environmental Justice Australia into Adani Group's track record in regards to the adherence to environmental regulations has revealed a consistent pattern of breaching Indian environmental regulations by the Group and its subsidiaries.
Coastal mismanagement In 2013 an independent committee observed even more environmental damage done to the coastal area. This demonstrated once more disregard for government regulations; protective measures for a nearby conservation area were ignored, local creeks had vanished and more than 75 hectares of mangrove forest were destroyed due to a failure to protect this area. Additionally, an airstrip was constructed without environmental approval. The committee recommended the establishment of an environmental restoration fund of AUD40 million. In September 2013 another "show cause" notice was issued by the Ministry to Adani Mundra and required the establishment of an environmental restauraton fund as well as a plan to protect the livelihoods of affected fishermen (Environmental Justice Australia).
Illegal construction In 2012 Gujarat courts found that Adani had illegally constructed an intake channel for its power station at Mundra on private and government land. The company was ordered to compensate the individual on whose land the illegal construction had occurred.
Illegal iron ore transportation and bribery An 2011 investigation by the Karnataka anti-corruption ombudsman (Lokayukta) uncovered a major scandal. He found that Adani Enterprises and other port operators were actively involved in large scale illegal exports of the iron ore resulting in "huge" economic losses to the Government. The investigation's report detailed how, at its port in the south western state of Karnataka the company routinely received trucks overloaded with iron ore. In doing so the company was involved in the theft of substantial quantities of iron ore. It also received illicit iron ore at its plot at Belekeri port from a number of suppliers that had no permits to supply ore to that port.
Bribes Documents seized from Adani's offices indicated that the company had been paying cash bribes to officials of the Port department, Customs, Police, State Pollution Control Board, Weights and Measurement Department, Local politicians and others. The bribes were paid to receive "undue favour for illegal exports".
Tax evasion In 2015 an investigation into Adani by the Sydney Morning Herald uncovered evidence of a very murky money trail leading to tax havens in the Cayman Islands, criminal investigations, and secret ownership.
According to the Banking on Climate Chaos report, 15 commercial banks financed Adani between 2016 and 2022, totalling USD 3.17 billion, via corporate lending and underwriting services. See below for more details on banks involved.
In May 2022, Standard Chartered and Barclays financed Adani Enterprises, the Adani Group subsidiary pursuing several new thermal coal mining projects. The US$ 250 million debt facility has an option to raise an additional US $200 million. The loan was made to Adani Airport Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises. See below for more details.
Between 2017 and 2021, Adani Ports issued US$ 3.9 billion in bonds. Banks involved were Axis Bank, Citi, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Barclays, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Emirates NBD Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Mitsubishi Financial Group (MUFG), Mizuho Financial Group, SMBC Nikko Capital and Standard Chartered Bank. See below for more details.
In November 2019, Adani Transmission issued US$ 500 million in bonds. Banks involved were Barclays, DBS Bank, Emirates NBD, Mitsubishi Financial Group (MUFG), Nomura, SBI Holdings, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank and Mizuho Securities. See below for more details.
In May 2019 it was reported that French investment bank Rothschild & Co. was "no longer advising Adani in relation to the sale of an ownership stake in the Abbot Point coal export port".
Between 2016 and 2018, 28 financial institutions financed a total of US$ 2.1 billion in loans and provided underwriting services totalling USD 1.05 billion to Adani. These are specified below.
Between 2014 and 2017, 42 financial institutions financed a total of US$ 4.8 billion in loans and provided underwriting services totalling US$ 2.3 billion to Adani. These are specified below.
In August 2015 it was reported that Commonwealth Bank's role as adviser to Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine had ended, with sources citing the environmental controversy surrounding Carmichael and the project's financial risk in the face of tumbling coal prices.
Indian journalists investigating the Adani Group have repeatedly been targeted by the highly invasive Pegasus spyware, a report by Amnest International has found. Anand Magnale, investigative journalist and South Asia Editor at the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), led an investigation into alleged stock price manipulation at Adani Group, and was then among those that Amnesty International found to have been targeted. The spyware's developer, NSO Group, saying that it only sells its product to governments, leading Amnesty International to call for India to investigate the attack and disclose whether it uses the spyware. The revelations raise fears for journalists in India holding the Adani Group to account.
On October 20 2023, it was announced that Adani secured a USD $3.5bn refinancing package from its faithful international lenders, including Barclays, BNP and Deutsche Bank. The refinancing package will allow Adani to finance a USD $10bn acquisition of cement assets in India previously owned by Holcim Cement, a Swiss company. Singaporean DBS Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and the two Japanese megabanks, Mizuho and MUFG, underwrote the three-year loan.
This loan is symbolic, as the largest evidence of financial confidence in the Adani Group since Hindenburg Research published allegations of financial fraud, leading to a $150bn dip in the Group's stock value.
On August 31st, more evidence emerged of the Adani Group's use of offshore shell companies to manipulate its stock price. Investigations by the OCCRP, and reported on widely, including in the FT and Guardian, allege that close associates of the Adani family controlled shares in the company, allowing Vinod Adani, CEO Gautam Adani's brother and a key leader of the conglomerate, to manipulate the company's stock price. Vinod Adani's two associates controlled at least 13% of publicly traded Adani Group shares, through a complex "Russian doll" network of shell companies in Mauritius. Hindenburg Research, the originator of fraud allegations of Adani, said: "Finally, the loop is closed."
The recent financial turmoil for the Adani Group and its subsidiaries was sparked by a damning report at the end of January 2023 by Hindenburg Research, a US-based forensic financial research firm. The 2-year investigation into Adani Group's deeply corrupt financial practices stated that Adani has inflated the price of its subsidiaries' stock and undertaken accounting fraud over the course of decades. The financial impropriety and stock value manipulation have allegedly then eroded the group's ability to deliver on its debt commitments, adding genuine financial pressures to the reputational damage. Near-daily revelations have since been emerging of Adani's plunging equity value.
This is all relevant in several ways to BankTrack's work of scrutinising Adani's social and environmental impacts and its banking relationships: first, the revelations support the long-term accusations that the conglomerate has used offshore shell entities to siphon money from some parts of the business to others, which means the investments in and by any one Adani subsidiary are not necessarily insulated from others.Our work of ensuring accountability of financial investors in Adani thereby becomes murkier, with investors' exposure extending effectively to the entirety of the business's dealings. Second, Adani's major lenders have been called on to prop up key parts of the business in light of the pressure, for example the State Bank of India pledging to increase its equity in several subsidiaries as a means of supporting the Carmichael coal mine. Our work is as important as ever, as old lenders deepen their support for Adani's dodgy activities and new investors swoop in to capitalise on the turmoil. Third, there are signs that the company's setbacks have compelled it to step back from grander ambitions and focus on its core revenue generators – namely, the climate-wrecking ports and power that fuelled its rise. Finally, as Adani struggles to respond to its drop in share value (a loss of around $100bn market capitalisation), it has scrambled to issue ever more bonds (aiming to issue US $10bn this year, with US $8bn outstanding) – this makes the need even more urgent for all the major banks that underwrite these loans, all of which have BankTrack profiles, to pull out of Adani's corrupt empire.
Adani Mining’s plan to build a 10 million tonnes open-pit thermal coal mine and associated infrastructure in the Galilee Basin of Queensland, Australia, has sealed the final approvals it requires to start construction. Lucas Dow, CEO Adani Mining, confirmed that the company had received advice from the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Science (DES) that the Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Management Plan (GDEMP) had been finalised and approved.
The Australian government will investigate allegations Adani has drilled illegal groundwater bores at its Carmichael mine site. Environment group Coast and Country has said it obtained aerial footage showing dewatering bores that were sunk without approval.
Indian mining giant Adani has announced it will break ground on the Carmichael coal mine in October. The facility’s first coal is expected in March 2020.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has approved the Carmichael coal mine and rail project. Bank financing for the project is still lacking and the company is yet to secure its bid for a AUD 900 million infrastructure loan from the Australian federal government. The loan would build a railway to Queensland’s Galilee Basin, which would open up the region to the wider mining industry. Adani’s top executive in Australia, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, voiced his displeasure with “activists who sit in creature comfort and criticise us”.
A detailed legal research brief by Environmental Justice Australia has revealed Adani’s long history of illegal dealings, bribery, environmental and social devastation, as well as a collection of allegations of corruption, fraud and money laundering at the company. The Adani Brief demonstrates that Australian governments and potential financiers are exposing themselves to financial and reputational risks by backing the Carmichael project.
Adani Enterprises is one of several coal companies under investigation by India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for inflating the cost of imported coal. For a decade, the DRI has been investigating Adani entities that traded in diamonds and gold jewellery. Adani Enterprises was named in a 2011 report by Karnataka’s state ombudsman, after documents seized by police allegedly “indicate that money has been regularly paid to port authorities, customs authorities, [the] police department, mines and geology and even to MLAs/MPs.” Adani has rejected the allegations.
An environment ministry panel has deferred green clearance to Adani Power 's 1,600 megawatt thermal project in Jharkhand, India and has sought more information from the company. Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd, a subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd, is planning to set up 2x800 megawatt Paraspani thermal power project in Godda district of Jharkhand (source: www.moneycontrol.com).
According to The Guardian: Adani has frozen its investment in Australia's largest proposed coalmine until world coal prices show a clear recovery, its executives have indicated in stock analyst briefings in India. The briefings even gave rise to speculation that Adani Enterprises, which has previously flagged spending USD4.1 billion on the Carmichael mine in north Queensland, might abandon its plans for the mine altogether amid a huge move by the company into solar energy.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald: The Commonwealth Bank's role as adviser to Australia's biggest coal project, Adani Mining's proposed Carmichael Mine in Queensland, has ended, dealing a heavy blow to its prospects and a significant victory for environmental groups.
