Crypto News: Adani’s political fallout

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani likens his conglomerate's accounting travails to an attack on the country, creating a political element as concern rises about the outlook for a business empire that owns some of India's key infrastructure and employs thousands.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling party have largely been muted so far on the Adani woes, he likely has a keen interest in how it all plays out.

The tycoon knows Modi well. Both hail from the western state of Gujarat and Adani defended Modi in the aftermath of the deadly religious riots there in 2002 when he was chief minister.

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It's no surprise that the troubles at Adani — allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud from New York-based investor Hindenburg Research, which the group denies, and the subsequent plunges in shares of its companies — are filtering through to politics.

Adani is a big deal in India — the country's largest port operator and manager of some of the country's biggest airports. While his wealth is light years away from the reality for many ordinary Indians, Gautam Adani's story of self-made success resonates.

For now, the upsides to Modi maintaining his connections with Adani probably outweigh the risks.

Opposition parties are playing up their ties and suggesting the business may get state support as it comes under growing financial pressure. While loud, however, the opposition is fragmented and has struggled for years to get things to stick to Modi personally.

Adani calls the claims against it "a calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India."

Modi is well aware of Adani's role as a national prize, an Indian company with global reach that can be painted as too important to the economy to fail. Especially as the prime minister focuses on wooing voters ahead of elections due around mid-2024, for whom jobs are a paramount consideration.

Today's India budget spelled out that calculus, unleashing a 33% jump in capital spending on infrastructure. That's designed to build the roads and ports that attract investment and factories and, above all, create jobs. —Rosalind Mathieson

Adani and Modi at the Fifth Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in 2011. Photographer: Vijay Soneji/Mint/Getty Images

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