Why is SEBI allowing the BJP to make it the laughing stock of India?

'India’s respected market regulator is making a fool of itself by allowing the BJP to blame a “foreign hand” in the name of 94-year-old George Soros for the expose done by Hindenburg on the Adani Group. You and I both know that it is ridiculous. Next, they will accuse Taylor Swift.'

So reads a letter retweeted on 13 August by Indian National Congress' general secretary Jairam Ramesh.

The open letter to SEBI, written by political commentator, author and former journalist Sanjay Jha, goes on to advise chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch:

'Some of you are bright talented professionals and bureaucrats there; why are you allowing the BJP to damage your reputation? They are a political party who have mastered the art of lies and bluster. Your task is to tell the truth to the people of India,' the letter continues.

The letter goes on to request three clarifications from the SEBI chief and its board of directors:

1. 'Forget Hindenburg completely, but pray tell me, when Mr Adani’s net wealth increased from $4.5 billion in 2014 ( when the NDA came to power) to $11 billion in 2020, and then skyrocketed dramatically to $76 billion in 2021, before shattering all rational theories of economic forecasting to reach a staggering $150 billion in 2022, you thought that was business as usual?'

Noting that the 'absurdity and atrociousness of the dizzying prices of stocks' should have been warning enough, Jha said 'The Board of Directors of SEBI need to explain their striking disinterestedness in the dazzling growth of Adani group’s market capitalisation, especially given their alleged cosy relationship with the Modi government.'

2. The second question expresses incredulity at SEBI's alleged blindness to what the author considers clear evidence of market manipulation: 'In 2022, just seven Adani Group companies accounted for a bizarre 80 per cent of BSE-listed companies' market capitalisation growth. Even a first-year tyro doing a bachelor’s in commerce would have said: Whoa! Ye kya ho raha hai (What is happening here)? But SEBI thought that the disproportionate share of a group’s role in share price growth did not deserve a high-powered public scrutiny?'

The letter goes on to enumerate what SEBI 'missed or evidently ignored', noting discrepancies that the companies' annual reports cannot explain:

'Adani Power PE was 769 while Tata Power was trading at 34; Adani Gas had a PE of 747 while its rival Indraprastha Gas was at 17... The hard truth, it appears, is that you all slept through a brazen manipulation of the markets, abdicating your responsibility altogether.'

'Hindenburg raised red flags; but SEBI drawing a blank on investigations after more than one year in a world of KYC and electronic funds transfers with permanent digital trails is like saying: We need proof that Paris just hosted the Olympics,' the author rails.

3. The third question is followed by some advice for SEBI's top brass as well:

'Your transparent response to the above will help. Sunlight, is after all, the best detergent,' the author concludes.

Ramesh shared the letter without comment, though he shared other netizens' posts this morning with annotations — in one case, it read: 'Modani's FDI policy: Fear, Deceit, Intimidation.'

Ramesh and Congress MP K.C. Venugopal are holding a press conference in New Delhi at the time of going to press. Updates shall follow.