(BSS/AFP) - India`s Adani Group conglomerate said Wednesday it had lost almost $55 billion in a stock market rout since US prosecutors last week accused its founder and other officials of fraud.

The November 20 bombshell indictment in New York accused billionaire
industrialist founder Gautam Adani and multiple subordinates of deliberately misleading international investors as part of a bribery scheme.It said they had "devised a scheme to offer, authorise, make and promise to

make bribes payments to Indian government officials".

The firm, which denies the charges, said in a statement on Wednesday: "Since
the intimation of the US DoJ (Department of Justice) indictment, the group
has suffered a loss of near $55 billion in its market capitalisation across
its 11 listed companies."

Gautam Adani, 62, is suspected of having participated in the $250 million
scheme in bribes to secure lucrative government contracts.

Adani Group issued a stiff denial, describing the charges as "baseless", but
it triggered a heavy sell-off of Adani stocks in Mumbai last week, with
multiple trading halts.

Stocks in Adani Enterprises rose 1.8 percent on Wednesday, but the group`s
key firm has lost more than 20 percent of its market capitalisation since the
indictment was released.

A statement on Wednesday said Adani officials are "only charged" with
securities fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud. It denies all
the charges.

It said it was "incorrect" to say that either Gautam Adani or his nephew
Sagar Adani had been charged with bribery or corruption.

Adani is a close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
was at one point the world`s second-richest man, and critics have long
accused him of improperly benefitting from their relationship.

- `Significant repercussions` -

The group said the action had led to "significant repercussions", including
"international project cancellations, financial market impact and sudden
examination from strategic partners, investors and the public".

That included in Kenya, where President William Ruto said the Adani Group
would no longer be involved in plans to expand the East African country`s
electricity network and its main airport.

The Adani Group was to invest $1.85 billion in Jomo Kenyatta airport and $736
million in state-owned utility KETRACO.

Sri Lanka has opened an investigation into the local investments of the
group, including a $442 million wind power deal and an Adani-led deep-sea
port terminal in Colombo, which is estimated to cost more than $700 million.

With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media, Adani Group
has weathered previous corporate fraud allegations and suffered a similar
stock rout last year.

The conglomerate saw $150 billion wiped from its market value in 2023 after a
report by short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of "brazen" corporate
fraud.

Adani denied Hindenburg`s allegations and called its report a "deliberate
attempt" to damage its image for the benefit of short-sellers.

Adani Group`s rapid expansion into capital-intensive businesses has raised
alarms in the past, with Fitch subsidiary and market researcher CreditSights
in 2022 warning it was "deeply over-leveraged".

Adani, who was born to a middle-class family in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state,
dropped out of school at 16 and moved to Mumbai to find work in the financial
capital`s lucrative gem trade.

After a short stint in his brother`s plastics business, he launched the
flagship family conglomerate that bears his name in 1988 by branching out
into the export trade.