Greater than three months after quick vendor Hindenburg Analysis accused Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s conglomerate of participating in inventory value manipulation and accounting fraud, the corporate argues that its income are proof of the energy of its enterprise.

“It’s unlucky we needed to undergo this politicised, malicious report,” mentioned Adani Group chief monetary officer Jugeshinder “Robbie” Singh on an earnings name for flagship firm Adani Enterprises final week. “However you see the numbers.”

Adani Enterprises greater than doubled its revenue after tax for the three months ending in March to Rs7.8bn ($95mn) from the identical interval final yr, with coal buying and selling and mining income earlier than curiosity and tax roughly doubling.

However the conglomerate, whose progress has been pushed by snapping up authorities contracts and a years-long acquisition spree, has needed to adapt in some ways after the short-seller assault. Adani has been pressured to drag again to preserve money after the report wiped some $100bn off the market capitalisation of the group’s corporations and Adani Enterprises referred to as off a $2.4bn follow-on fairness providing.

Adani Enterprises mentioned in a inventory trade submitting on Wednesday that it was contemplating a brand new share sale to boost funds however didn’t specify an quantity. Its board will meet to resolve on Saturday.

The group, which denies Hindenburg’s allegations, has slowed down acquisitions and has been shopping for again bonds to shore up confidence.

The corporate has instructed traders and market analysts that its headlong progress — into new sectors together with media and information centres — is on pause. “We perceive from administration that they’re making an attempt to go sluggish on capex throughout the board,” mentioned Rachna Jain, a director at Fitch Rankings’ infrastructure and initiatives group. “And even on core areas they’re making an attempt to trim progress.”

In 2022, Singh mentioned Adani Enterprises would spend $5.3bn on capex within the 2024 monetary yr. This month, he revised down the estimate to $3.8bn.

Adani Ports and Particular Financial Zone, the conglomerate’s logistics arm, slashed its capex for this yr by half in contrast with final yr and launched a $650mn bond buyback which it mentioned was partially “to convey the snug liquidity place of the corporate”. Adani’s Ambuja Cement mentioned this month it cancelled an engineering contract value Rs18bn.

The group additionally seems to have pulled again on looking for some authorities tenders. Adani Inexperienced Power, the group’s renewable energy arm, didn’t win any of 30 new renewable energy tender gives issued in India in April, in response to JMK Analysis, a Gurgaon-based consultancy.

Requested in regards to the firm’s absence from new bids in an earnings name this month, Adani Inexperienced Power’s head of enterprise growth mentioned: “We now have a big pipeline of under-construction initiatives . . . we have already got important capacities tied up. So, we’re specializing in worth accretion alternatives and can time these because it comes by. We’re not essentially aggressive proper now available in the market.”

An Adani spokesperson mentioned the group had not altered its total technique for taking part in tenders or funding plans for its core infrastructure enterprise. “Capex in new areas of funding, outdoors the core, is being re-evaluated within the quick time period as we proceed our work with related events to handle the financial fallout” of the quick vendor’s report, the spokesperson added.

Dealmaking has additionally taken a again seat. Adani pulled out of buying an $847mn coal energy plant in India in February and has since avoided making new offers, which has had an influence on the broader market because it suffers a droop in M&A exercise.

Adani constructed his empire on a “blitzkrieg” of acquisitions, mentioned a Mumbai banker. The tycoon’s quiet interval “will influence funding banking revenues for positive as a result of he’s necessary to the enterprise”, the banker added. “It’s like if the Chennai Tremendous Kings depart the Indian Premier League,” he mentioned, referring to the second-placed group within the prime cricket league.

Following the short-seller assault, analysts anticipate Adani will wrestle to safe new financing. Adani Inexperienced Power, which is creating a 25GW renewables portfolio, had quarterly income of Rs5bn and has to make a $1.25bn compensation on two bonds in 2024.

“A report like Hindenburg’s does elevate further questions within the thoughts of traders,” mentioned an analyst who requested to not be named for worry of repercussions from Adani, “making it harder to boost capital in already difficult markets.”

“They’ll watch out about issues like company governance as a result of now individuals are watching them actually intently,” mentioned Anish Teli, managing companion at Mumbai-based fund supervisor QED Capital.

On Friday, index supplier MSCI mentioned it was chopping the burden of two Adani shares. It had reassessed the scale of the free float — the proportion of shares obtainable for buying and selling — of Adani Whole Fuel, Adani and TotalEnergies’ metropolis gasoline enterprise, and Adani Transmission, an influence unit, from 25 to 14 per cent and 25 to 10 per cent, respectively. MSCI calculates a inventory’s weighting primarily based on its free float.

Adani mentioned it was working “on enhancing the depth of [the] share register and of [the] free float throughout our portfolio of corporations”.

Regardless of rejecting Hindenburg’s findings, Adani has responded to at least one criticism by altering an auditor at one firm. Hindenburg’s report criticised Shah Dhandharia — the auditor of Adani Enterprises and Adani Whole Fuel — as a “tiny agency” that “hardly appears able to complicated audit work”.

Final week, Adani Whole Fuel changed the Ahmedabad-based auditor 4 years earlier than its time period was set to run out and introduced Walker Chandiok, the Indian affiliate of London-headquartered auditor Grant Thornton, as its new auditor.

“If you wish to have some type of consolation within the audit course of, you must depend on large auditors,” mentioned Sharmila Gopinath, India specialist adviser to the Asian Company Governance Affiliation. She added that this assurance was particularly necessary to overseas traders.

An Adani spokesperson mentioned Adani Whole Fuel had meant to change its auditor earlier than Hindenburg’s report.

At residence in India, the Supreme Courtroom in March directed Indian markets regulator Sebi to research the conglomerate.

The quick vendor’s report has additionally had an influence on Indian politics. Opposition events have seized on the problem to browbeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi a yr forward of a nationwide election.

Modi and Adani, each from the state of Gujarat, are broadly perceived to have an in depth relationship that analysts say is now a political legal responsibility for the prime minister.

“Modi can’t be too complacent on the Adani concern,” mentioned Shruti Kapila, professor of historical past and politics on the College of Cambridge.

The way in which Modi offers with the Hindenburg report is what “will actually matter, notably the way in which he’s punishing opposition leaders”, mentioned Kapila. “That would backfire.”

Further reporting by John Reed in Bengaluru