New Delhi: Adani Group, the richest Indian conglomerate issued a point-by-point rebuttal to US-based firm Hindenburg’s allegations of ‘stock manipulation & accounting fraud for decades’ and rubbished all its charges as mere lies & speculation.

Issuing a detailed 413-page response, the Adani Group called the Hindenburg report, a ‘calculated attack’ on India and also its independent institutions. The group said that the report by US-based research firm was driven by an ‘ulterior motive’ and also with an intention to enable the US firm to book profits, at the cost of Indian behemoth & its countless investors.

“This is not merely an unwarranted attack on any specific company but a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India,” the Adani Group said in a long rebutall.

The Group said that Hindenburg through its malicious & malafide report wanted to create ‘false market in securities’ and book massive profits through wrongful means at the cost of Adani investors.

“This is rife with conflict of interest and intended only to create a false market in securities to enable Hindenburg, an admitted short seller, to book massive financial gain through wrongful means at the cost of countless investors,” it added.

In its 413-page response, the group has responded to all the 88 questions raised by the US-based short seller.

“Of the 88 questions raised by Hindenburg, 65 of them relate to matters that have been duly disclosed by Adani portfolio companies. Of the balance 23 questions, 18 relate to public shareholders and third parties (and not the Adani portfolio companies), while the balance 5 are baseless allegations based on imaginary fact patterns,” the group said in point-by-point rebuttal to Hindenburg’s charges.

The US based short seller had alleged in its damning report had alleged that the Adani Group “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades”. The Hindenburg report, unveiled on Wednesday triggered a major sell-off in multiple stocks of Adani group.

Further punching holes in Hindenburg’s market credibility & also its unethical report, the group said that the US based short seller unveiled its report with a malicious intent & motive. It also questioned its timing as it came at a time when Adani Enterprises was undertaking one of the company’s biggest FPO (Follow on Public Offer) of Rs 20,000 crore.

“Hindenburg has not published this report for any altruistic reasons but purely out of selfish motives The report is neither ‘independent’ nor ‘objective’ nor ‘well researched’,” the Group said.

Further refuting its 88 questionnaire of Hindenburg report, Adani Group said, “They are simply selective regurgitations of public disclosures or rhetorical innuendos colouring rumours as fact… Hindenburg has not published this report for any altruistic reasons but purely out of selfish motives and in flagrant breach of applicable securities and foreign exchange laws.”

In a nutshell, the Group dismissed the Hindenburg report as false suggestions, manipulated narrative and biased & unsubstantiated rhetoric.