Hindenburg report: Why India’s market regulator Sebi is in the eye of a storm

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Getty Images Chairperson of Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Madhabi Puri Buch gestures with her hands as she speaks at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) in MumbaiGetty Images

Has the Indian stock market been a topic of conversation for a while now, with keywords trending on social media around it.

The reason is n’t just investor interest, but has more to do with its regulator. This break it down a little.

It all started over the weekend when US-based activist-investor Hindenburg Research posted on X ( formerly Twitter ) that” something big” was coming.

Hours later, it released a report alleging links between Madhabi Puri Buch, the head of the controversial Adani group, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi ) chief executive. Both Ms Buch and the Adanis have denied crime.

Now, Hindenburg had last year accused the Adani group – founded by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani – of decades of “brazen” stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

The team- which has 10 publicly traded companies, operating across a wide range of industries, including commodities investing, airports, utilities, ports and green energy- had clearly denied the allegations.

However, Sebi is also looking into the allegations and billions were lost because of the controversy, which has since largely recovered.

Hindenburg then say that Ms Buch’s connections with the money used by the Adanis have impacted the firm’s research.

Ms. Buch has denied having any conflicts of interest and claimed that the expense occurred before she became a member of the controller. Additionally, there is no conclusive evidence to date linking Sebi’s analysis or Adani Group stocks to her expenditure in the funds.

At the end of trading on Monday, Adani Group’s market value was significantly reduced by the new allegations, which resulted in a$ 2.43 billion ( £1.9 billion ) discount from its earlier losses.

What then is said by Hindenburg?

Hindenburg referenced earlier reports by Financial Times and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project that linked mysterious offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius to Mr. Adani’s business partners in its record.

Hindenburg alleged that Ms Buch and her father, Dhaval Buch, invested in these sub-funds in 2015.

Her father wrote to the account executive asking to be made the only person “authorized to run the accounts,” weeks before Ms Buch became a full-time part of Sebi in 2017.

According to the report, Ms. Buch wrote to a wealth management company asking for the forgiveness of her husband’s full stake in the fund using her personal email address.

The Adani Group’s Chairperson’s alleged involvement in using the exact same money used by Vinod Adani, his brother, led to Sebi’s allegations that the company is unwilling to take meaningful action against think offshore shareholders.

Hindenburg even mentioned Ms. Buch’s husband’s appointment as an advisor for US purchase firm Blackstone, which has invested in Indian real estate investment trusts. They claimed that Sebi’s regulation changes during Ms. Buch’s time as a member and chairman had had a direct impact on businesses like Blackstone.

Getty Images The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) headquarters at the Bombay Kurla Complex (BKC) in MumbaiGetty Images

What is Ms Buch’s reply?

The opportunities mentioned in the Hindenburg review were made in 2015 by Ms Buch and her husband, according to a statement released by them in a speech.

They claimed that Mr. Buch and the then-Chair Investment Officer Anil Ahuja, who likewise “had several decades of a successful investment career,” were friends when they were young.

” As confirmed by Mr Ahuja, the account did not invest in any relationship, capital or variant of any Adani group business”, their statement said.

The market regulation, according to the statement, had” robust institutional mechanisms of disclosure and recusal norms” that they had “diligently followed.

The Hindenburg statement was characterized as an effort at” character assassination of its chairperson” and an assault on Sebi’s credibility.

The couple claimed that Ms. Buch’s “recess record maintained with Sebi” included the investment firm and that Mr. Buch had a relationship with Blackstone.

What about Sebi?

The industry regulator said in a speech that it had “duly investigated” Hindenburg’s complaints against the Adani Group.

Additionally, it stated that its chairman recused herself in issues involving “potential conflicts of interest” and that she had made the necessary statements in “terms of assets of stocks and their transfers.”

Getty Images Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, during a Bloomberg Television interview at the company's headquarters in AhmedabadGetty Images

And the Adani Group?

The company described the allegations as” a reuse of rejected claims that have been thoroughly investigated and ] proven to be false” in a statement released on its site on Sunday.

” Our overseas having structure is completely transparent, with all relevant information disclosed regularly in many public files”, it said.

Anil Ahuja, according to the group, was previously a director of Adani Enterprises and a nominee director of Adani Power from 2007 to 2017.

The Adani Group added that it had no business dealings with the people or issues mentioned in this ill-fated, deliberate effort to harm our reputation.

According to Hindenburg’s earlier report, which accused the Adanis of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, their businesses lost almost$ 150 billion from their market value, despite having mostly recovered the losses since then.

In January, in a major relief to the group, India’s top court rejected pleas for an additional investigation into the allegations. It also gave Sebi three months to complete its investigation – that deadline has long passed, but according to Sebi’s latest statement, it has completed 23 inquiries and the last one is “close to completion”.

In June, Sebi also issued a” show-cause notice” to Hindenburg Research, accusing it of violating US securities laws by colluding with an investor who made a short bet against the Adani group ahead of the report’s release. Hindenburg has dismissed the allegation.

A political slugfest

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in India’s parliament, said that the allegations have “gravely compromised” the “integrity” of Sebi,” which is entrusted with safeguarding the wealth of small retail investors”.

His party in the Congress has demanded that the allegations be investigated by the government and that “every aspect of the Adani investigation be resolved in its entirety.”

Mr. Adani has long been accused by opposition politicians of profiting from his political connections, which he denies. He is widely believed to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP), in turn, has accused the Congress of being “involved in creating economic anarchy” and “hatred against India”.

A top finance ministry official said on Monday that the government had “nothing to add” on the issue as both Sebi and Ms Buch had given statements.

What happens next?

In its response to Ms Buch’s statement, Hindenburg has doubled down on its accusations, saying it raises “numerous new critical questions”.

Sebi, Ms Buch and the Adani Group have n’t reacted yet to the latest comments.

We have n’t yet heard the last of the controversy because opposition politicians are expected to continue raising it.

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Thai Airways targets SET return in 2025

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PUBLISHED: 10 Aug 2024 at 04: 00

Boeing 787-800, Thai Airways. (Photo: Kuakul Mornkum)
Boeing 787-800, Thai Airways. ( Photo: Kuakul Mornkum )

Thai Airways International Public Company Limited ( THAI ) intends to complete its capital restructuring plan by the end of the year and will request that business rehabilitation be discontinued before stock exchange trading resumes in the second quarter of 2025.

The reform focuses on debt-to-equity change and right and consecutive offering of newly issued stocks to owners, employees, and investors.

Full profits for THAI and its subsidiaries was 43.9 billion baht in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 17.7 % over the same period last year.

314 million baht, less than the 2 billion rmb profit in the second quarter of last year, was reported as gross profit.

Due to changing costs, the 38 billion baht’s full profit decreased by 32.1 % from the previous year, accounting for the higher total expenses.

Next month, the company plans to submit the SEC and the Stock Exchange of Thailand ( SET ) with the registration statement for the sale of securities and the draft prospectus for a capital restructuring.

The company rehabilitation will also be prompted by a petition to the Central Bankruptcy Court to end its operations and continue SET share trading in 2025.

The company’s trials and the SEC, SET, the Central Bankruptcy Court, and other important authorities are the bank’s certain deadlines.

The government mandated that the Ministry of Finance reduce its ownership in the symbol provider by at least 50 % before THAI submitted a petition to the Bankruptcy Court in May 2020 to start rehabilitation proceedings. Thus, THAI was no more considered a state sector.

This has enabled the business to have freedom in its control, raise its profitability, essentially alter its business, and conduct actions under the business rehabilitation plan, a source said. The bank’s measures include operational reduction, ships and engine similarity, cost reduction, and system growth, according to the source.

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Philippine Nobel laureate Ressa’s Rappler website wins appeal to overturn shutdown order

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After a judge overturned a bank’s decision to screen the media organization, Manila’s Nobel laureate Maria Ressa’s information website Rappler won an appeal to have its business license reinstated. The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) overstepped its authority by ordering Rappler’s shutdown in 2018, the Court ofContinue Reading

DBS’ Tan Su Shan to lead the bank in 2025; H1 profit hits record high | FinanceAsia

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On March 28, 2025, DBS announced the appointment of Tan Su Shan as the company’s second chief executive officer to take over from CEO Piyush Gupta. In the interval, Tan has become sheriff CEO of the institution, &nbsp, in addition to her place as team head of administrative banking.

After Gupta’s 15 years in charge, Tan, who joined Citi in late 2009, will become the first woman CEO in the company’s past. Following the review of both internal and external applicants, her appointment was made. In a company media release, Tan was cited as the strongest candidate in the lengthy development program attended by interior candidates. &nbsp,

Headquartered in Singapore, DBS is one of the largest banks in Asia with offices in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, mainland China, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) and Vietnam. DBS even has appearance in Australia, the UK and the US. The bank provides services to consumers, small-medium enterprises ( SME) and corporates.

In her new position, Tan will take more than 35 years of experience in customer banking, wealth management and administrative banking. Based in Singapore, Tan has even worked in different financial centres such as Hong Kong, Tokyo and London.

Tan has worked for DBS since 2010, beginning her career there in 2010 when she started her career in the bank’s money management division. She now oversees the company’s customer banking, wealth management, and institutional banking divisions, which account for 90 % of the company’s revenue. Across these jobs, Tan had likewise helped apply DBS ‘ digilisation approach, and since 2014 has been president director of DBS Indonesia.

Tan has also been nominated for a seat on the Singapore legislature from 2012 to 2014, and he has also been appointed to a number of advisory boards.

The announcement came as DBS revealed Q2 2024 net profit up 4 % to S$ 2.8 billion ($ 2.1 billion ) with a return on equity of 18.2 %. First-half net profit was up 9 % to a record high of S$ 5.76 billion, &nbsp, driven by “broad-based growth”, according to the bank. &nbsp,

Consumer banking and wealth management revenue increased by 18 % to S$ 5.06 billion for the first half of the 2024 financial year, partially offset by Citi Taiwan’s consolidation, which was completed in August 2023, to reach S$ 5.06 billion. Lower net interest income and higher loan-related fees, cash management fees, and treasury customer income were all factors that contributed to institutional banking income, which was” stable” at S$ 4.69 billion. Businesses trading revenue was much changed at S$ 433 million.

Despite experiencing regulatory issues with the Monetary Authority of Singapore following a number of interruptions, the banks recorded record profits of S$ 10.1 billion for the 2023 fiscal year. &nbsp,

DBS president Peter Seah said in a media launch,” Under Piyush’s management, DBS has been transformed into a high-performing, high-returns organization recognised together for security and innovation”.

Seah continued:” Tan’s proper orientation, track record in building companies, familiarity with technology, leadership skill as well as strong customer control and communication abilities make her the best son. Important for us, she even embodies the DBS lifestyle. I’m pleased that a Singaporean with extensive international experience has emerged as the ideal leader and that Piyush may continue to leave us.

Tan has collaborated strongly with me for more than ten years to get the banks where it is today, according to Gupta in the same release. Since joining, she has been instrumental in the growth of our money management, consumer banking, and administrative banking operations, and she now holds personal ownership of the business. With her visit, we can be certain that DBS’s change will continue well into the prospect.

¬ Capitol Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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Central Asia teaming up to ship clean power to Europe – Asia Times

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Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are set to consolidate a strategic partnership in sustainable energy initiatives, a collaboration that promises to supply clean energy to Europe and beyond.  

The three nations, following a mid-July meeting, are set to finalize an intergovernmental agreement that emphasizes clean and renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and cutting-edge technologies.

Key provisions include joint efforts in generating, transporting and trading environmentally friendly hydrogen and ammonia. Moreover, they aim to facilitate the transmission and distribution of electricity from renewable sources.

The groundwork was laid during the Third Tashkent International Investment Forum in May. There, the economy and energy ministers from the three countries met together and signed a “Memorandum of Understanding on Merging the Energy Systems of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.”

This includes the operationalization of renewable energy resources, the production and export of green energy to Europe through Azerbaijan’s territory and the trilateral integration of energy systems.

The forthcoming agreement thus marks a significant step toward sustainable energy integration and regional economic cooperation. Separately, earlier this month, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan discussed the expansion of bilateral investment cooperation projects they deemed as “strategic.”

Azerbaijan’s economy minister, Mikayil Jabbarov, participated in the 13th meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental commission in Tashkent, meeting with Uzbekistan’s minister of investment, industry and trade, Laziz Kudratov.

This meeting continued concerted efforts over the past few years by the governments of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan to deepen their economic and diplomatic cooperation.

In August last year, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was received on a working visit to Azerbaijan, reciprocating three visits to his country by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in 2022.

The meetings marked a significant development in bilateral ties, as several strategic cooperation agreements were signed that emphasized their commitment to removing barriers in trade and transport.

Aliyev’s visits in 2022 had already seen the creation of a joint investment fund and nearly two dozen agreements for development of specific industrial production projects in both countries.

Mirziyoyev, during his August 2023 visit to Baku, also visited Karabakh and promised contributions to the region’s restoration following three decades of Armenian military occupation. In Baku, Mirziyoyev and Aliyev established a Supreme (or High) Interstate Council between their countries, solidifying their long-term prospects of cooperation.

A memorandum for cooperation between their National Security Councils, along with a protocol allowing visa-free travel for citizens of Azerbaijan, was also signed. At the same time, a roadmap for deepening the strategic partnership was agreed.

In 2023, the two countries’ bilateral trade surged by over a quarter to reach US$231.6 million. According to Azerbaijan sources, this appears to have fallen significantly on a month-by-month basis in the current year, although sources from Uzbekistan report a slight increase.

The headline goal of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation is to increase this trade to $1 billion, although without a specific time horizon.

In addition to the petrochemical sector, the two sides have identified mechanical and electrical engineering, construction and construction materials, agriculture and tourism as promising areas for cooperation.

Bilateral energy cooperation has also been increasing since Azerbaijan turned toward Asia in 2021, in reaction against Western opposition to its dislodging of Armenia’s three-decade occupation of one-sixth of its national territory. 

Uzbekistan is rich in natural gas but needs to modernize its energy infrastructure. In 2021, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and the Uzbekstani state energy company Uzbekneftegaz signed a memorandum of understanding to explore opportunities for cooperation in the oil and gas sector, including joint ventures in exploration, production and the development of petrochemical facilities.

In June 2023, the two countries announced plans to jointly extract and export gas. Now, the parties are negotiating an agreement under which Uzbekneftegaz will join Azerbaijan’s offshore Shah Deniz project with equity participation.

This initiative may also be in response to Uzbekistan’s declining natural gas production, which fell by 10% in 2023 over 2022, to 46.7 billion cubic meters, as the depletion of the country’s aging existing fields – already depleted by 75-80% – continued.

Azerbaijan’s expertise in oil and gas extraction provides significant possibilities to help realize Uzbekistan’s intentions to increase hydrocarbon production. Azerbaijan’s strategic geographic position enhances the geoeconomic significance of energy cooperation with Uzbekistan.

That is equally true for the Trans-Caspian International Trade Route (TITR, “Middle Corridor”). The potential for trans-Caspian transit cooperation via the Middle Corridor has already been realized with Kazakhstan. It is central to unlocking the potential of the partnership between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

However, the World Bank report on Central Asian connectivity published in April 2024, which is a sort of roadmap for the TITR’s development, largely skirts Uzbekistan in favor of developing a main route through southern Kazakhstan.

Uzbekistan, therefore, looks set to benefit if Azerbaijan succeeds in attracting TITR investment from members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which the secretary attended the 25th-anniversary meeting, held in Baku, of the United Nations Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA).

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has recently made its first investments outside the Gulf, in Azerbaijan and Central Asia more broadly.

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Legislation forces US firms to prepare for a Taiwan war – Asia Times

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Some American legislators have proposed a bipartisan legislative bill that will require United States-listed firms to disclose their assets and businesses in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and estimate the economic losses they will suffer if China invades Taiwan. 

The PRC Risk Transparency Act, if passed and implemented, will amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require US-listed firms to annually disclose the percentage of total revenue, profits, capital investment and supply chain involvement in China and perform security analysis related to their exposures. 

The Act will require US-listed firms to make plans for a sudden loss of market access in China if the country invades Taiwan, a self-governing island over which Beijing claims to have sovereignty and has vowed to “reunite” with the mainland. 

These firms need to consider different case scenarios including a more than 80% decline in bilateral trade between the US and China, a complete cessation in the trade of goods with military end-use or dual-use applications and an extreme situation in which Beijing seizes all China-based assets of American companies that could be repurposed for military production. 

The bill was jointly introduced by the House Financial Service Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions chairman Blaine Luetkemeyer and the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party chairman John Moolenaar on July 25. 

The bill needs approval from both the US House of Representatives and Senate and the US president’s signature in order to become law. 

A spokesperson of Luetkemeyer’s office told the media that another way to push the legislation is to add this Act, together with the previously proposed Chinese Military Aggression Act, to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s coming legislation package, which aims to restrict US investments in China and punish the Chinese firms that provide material support to Russia and Iran.

Johnson said in early July that Congress targets to pass a significant legislation package by the end of this year to curb China as the country now leading an “axis” of adversaries that includes Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba. 

John Aquilino, head of the Indo-Pacific Command, said in March that he believes China’s military will be prepared to invade Taiwan by 2027. 

In April, Luetkemeyer introduced the Chinese Military Aggression Act, which will direct the Treasury Department’s Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to analyze, study and report on market implications and vulnerabilities related to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

The PRC Risk Transparency Act was proposed two days before US State Secretary Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Laos on July 27. 

During the meeting, Blinken expressed concerns over China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and provocative actions against Taiwan. 

Wang countered that Taiwanese separatists are the ones creating trouble in the Taiwan Strait and that China will not hesitate to take countermeasures. He said the US has been trying to alienate Beijing and Moscow since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out but China will not back down under external pressure. 

A Shanxi-based Chinese columnist says in an article published on Monday that Wang has already seen through Blinken’s tricks – Washington wanted to increase communications with Beijing but would not stop suppressing China. 

He says it was probably the last time for Blinken to visit Asia with the title of US State Secretary. He says Blinken may not be able to stay in his position after the US presidential election in November.  

Wider coverage

The PRC Risk Transparency Act covers several more sectors than the Executive Order signed by President Joe Biden last August. The latter only restricts and monitors US investments in Chinese semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence companies for national security reasons. 

The Act’s restrictions are also much wider than similar bills introduced by other US lawmakers.

Last November, US Senators Bob Casey and Rick Scott introduced the Disclosing Investments in Foreign Adversaries Act to provide transparency in investments made by American hedge funds and private equity firms in countries of concern like China and Russia.

The legislation would require these private investment funds to annually disclose any assets invested in countries like China to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Casey said it is vital to know if any US money is being used to boost the economies of some foreign adversaries who steal technological know-how and jobs from America.

In March this year, Congresspeople Victoria Spartz and Brad Sherman introduced four bills that aim to mitigate the strategic, commercial and national security threats posed by China to the American economy and financial markets. 

Among the four, the China Risk Reporting Act requires US-listed firms to disclose annually the degree to which they are dependent upon China and the risks China poses, such as supply chain disruptions, intellectual property theft or nationalization of assets. 

“If China invades Taiwan, Congress should be able to impose sanctions, knowing American companies have insulated themselves from the rupture,” Spartz and Sherman said in a press release. “Hopefully, this will deter such an invasion.”

The newly proposed PRC Risk Transparency Act demands more details, such as US-listed firms’ capital investment in China and their joint ventures’ revenues and profits. 

In recent years, many US companies have already started cutting their investments in China.

China’s foreign direct investment fell 8% to 1.13 trillion yuan (US$156 billion) in 2023 from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The figure dropped 29.1% year-on-year to 498.9 billion yuan in the first half of this year. Chinese officials said it’s normal to have some fluctuations as FDI had grown during 2013-2022. 

‘US$1.6 trillion loss’

Before the US can estimate its economic losses from a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Beijing has already made an estimation and used it to warn of the consequences of US decoupling from China. 

“Statistics show that ending the permanent normal trade relations with China would lead to a $1.6 trillion-economic loss for the US,” Xie Feng, Chinese Ambassador to the US, said in a speech at the Symposium in Commemoration of the 45th Anniversary of China-US Diplomatic Relations on July 27. 

He said over 70,000 American companies are benefiting from China’s development while their exports to China have supported 930,000 American jobs. 

“To our two countries, respective success means mutual opportunities, not challenges, and the two sides should help each other succeed, not undermine each other,” he said. “We need to make the list of cooperation longer and the negative list shorter.”

Xie’s speech was posted on the website of the Chinese Embassy in the US on Tuesday. 

Read: US targets Hong Kong chip transshipments to Russia

Follow Jeff Pao on X: @jeffpao3

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