Adani Enterprises’ Exclusion from Sustainability Indices Announced in February 2023
Key Facts
S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on February 2, 2023, that it would exclude Adani Enterprises from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, effective before trading opened on February 7 of that year. This resets the timing of the news circulating on November 2, 2026: the decision dates back more than three years. The company said the move followed a media and stakeholder analysis prompted by allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The announcement, in the index provider’s wording, was not a response to market turmoil or the cancellation of the share offering. The decision came as the group’s shares were under severe pressure following a report by Hindenburg Research.
Adani Enterprises shares had fallen 28% at the close of trading on February 1, 2023, according to the Associated Press. The following day, the stock fell 27% and closed at its lowest level since March 2022, Reuters reported. Reuters said the company had lost $26 billion in market value as of February 2, while the group’s companies had collectively lost about half their market value since Hindenburg’s report was published on January 24, 2023. The yield on Adani Green Energy’s $500 million face-value bonds due in 2024 rose to 15.45% on Wednesday, from 12.1%, Reuters reported. This came as markets reassessed the group’s risks following the allegations in the report.
Amid the pressure, Adani Enterprises canceled a share offering that had attracted about 51 million bids for 45.5 million shares offered to the public, according to the Associated Press. The company said withdrawing the deal would not affect its existing operations or future plans, and that it would refund investors. The demand shows that the offering was canceled after attracting more bids than shares on offer, but it did not stop the stock from continuing to fall in those days. The Adani Group described Hindenburg’s allegations as a calculated attack on India, its institutions and its ambitions, rejecting the report’s claims. Reuters reported that India’s securities regulator had investigated some issues during the previous year and continued its scrutiny after the report was published.
Assessing the impact of the exclusion, an analyst told the Associated Press that the decision could hurt the group’s sustainability reputation and affect investor sentiment. That remains a possible assessment of the impact, not evidence that funds tied to sustainability benchmarks made forced sales. More broadly, the Reserve Bank of India asked local banks for information about their exposure to the Adani Group, amid concerns that falling share and bond prices could affect the financial system. India’s securities regulator also said it had observed unusual price movements in the shares of a business conglomerate, had mechanisms to address volatility, and would examine the information before taking appropriate action. These developments remain part of the market context in February 2023, not events dated November 2026.
Trading turmoil also extended to other indices linked to group companies. In February 2023, MSCI said it would defer until its May review the implementation of weighting updates for Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission, with the change to appear in its files from February 16. Adani Total Gas shares had fallen more than 70% since Hindenburg’s report dated January 24, then closed down 5% on February 16 after a brief rise during the session, Reuters reported. On February 6, the Adani Group announced that major shareholders had pledged to repay $1.1 billion early on loans secured by shares, and Adani Ports shares jumped 9% after the announcement. S&P renamed the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices as the Dow Jones Best-in-Class Indices effective February 10, 2025, and moved the annual rebalancing date from December to after the last business day in April.