Adani U.S. Settlement, And What Govt Should Do Now?
In this crisis time, the government of India should immediately institute a judicial enquiry into the multiple financial irregularities of Adani Group.
Billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani have agreed to pay a combined $18 million in penalties, invest $10 billions in USA to settle a civil fraud lawsuit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The bargained deal will free Adani from future prosecutions on key anti bribery, fraud cases.
Apart from the investment of $10 billions (INR 96,000 crores) in USA with a promise to create 15,000 jobs, additionally Adani Group agreed to pay $275 million to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to finance a separate Iranian gas shipping investigation.
The deal became possible apart from PM Modi’s consistent active mediation with President Trump, Adani group in recent months hired Trump’s personal lawyer Robert J. Giuffra Jr. The news about the clean chit given by the American Justice Department dropping of fraud charges by USA against Adani Group in payment of a $265 million bribe to Indian officials to secure solar power-supply deals was first reported by The New York Times and The Guardian, and only after 24 hours Indian news papers mustered courage to report it
Charges against Adani
The United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) had accused the Adanis in 2024 of paying bribes to Indian officials for securing high-profile renewable energy contracts. The 2024 lawsuit also accused the Adanis of raising $750 million in India, including roughly $175 million from US investors, while allegedly misrepresenting Adani Green Energy’s compliance with anti-bribery laws.
Consequently, the Brooklyn Court in eastern district of New York indicted billionaire Gautam Adani and his business associates for fraud, and issued arrest warrants against him. The five count court indictment involving their alleged roles in payment of a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure solar power-supply deals in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Kasmir and other states. Thus Adani made false statements to the U.S. investors and global financial institutions.
The FBI searches led to the federal Indictment that collected incriminating documents and custody of electronic devices belonging to Gautam Adani’s business houses in USA. This led to a chargesheet that indicted him for paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials and hiding this bribery from the U.S. investors.
For the last two years the US Department of Justice and the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been working on this case, trying unsuccessfully to serve legal summons on Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani through the Indian government. Use of low-tax jurisdictions and establishing shell companies abroad is reportedly a regular practice by Adani Group to tilt the share markts in it’s favor. Which in turn resulted in loss of lakhs of crore rupees to small investors and their ruin by many companies.
Although SEC USA filed charges against Adani Group, conspicuously neither SEBI nor Indian courts initiated any legal proceedings and chargesheet against the latter despite the availability of numerous evidences. Jaipur commercial court judge, Dinesh Kumar Gupta, had ruled against Parsa Kente Collieries Limited - one of the Adani Group of companies, to pay a Rs 50-lakh fine for wrongful collection of over Rs 1,400 crore from a Rajasthan state energy company. Similarly, dozens of journalists were victimised for exposing Adani Group scams.
As a result of SEBI, the GOI mediated questionable power purchase agreements signed between Discoms in various states and Adani solar power companies, where offered solar power tariffs were much higher compared to open market price in open market. As a result, consumers in these states are already paying huge electricity charges to state discoms. SEBI, India and finance ministry were mute witnesses while millions of small investors have lost lakhs of crore rupees in share markets. As the government revealed in the Parliament, SEBI has been investigating Adani since 2021, but SEBI has found very little from their investigations.
Open support to Crony capitalism
A characteristic feature of neoliberal economics is rampant privatization and handing over to a few crony capitalists, starting from ports, airports, coal mines, power supply and generation, which in turn emerged as monopolies. Gautam Adani, regularly accompanied PM Modi’s entourage to various nations during the last 11 years, and signed various deals that benefited the Adani Group to expand his business from Kenya, Bangladesh to Australia.
Gautam Adani is one of the richest persons in the world. Soon after PM Modi’s ascent to power, his financial worth grew many times. His companies hold significant positions in India’s energy and infrastructure sectors, with key market shares including nearly 14% of India’s new solar and wind capacity and manages almost 25% of the country’s total cargo movement in various sea ports as of January 2026.
Apart from it’s monopoly in solar and wind energy production, Adani Power Ltd is India’s largest private thermal power producer and transmission. In total, Gautam Adani owns nearly 25 percent of assets in Indian economy today. To promote business interests of Gautam Adani, PM Narendra Modi reportedly signed an interim deal with President Trump during his Febraury visit to Washington. It is alleged, India compromised by signing trade deal, sacrificed interests of crores of small farmers, workers and SMEs apart from nation’s food security, energy oil imports (from Russia and Iran), and independent foreign policy. By abandoning its independent foreign policy, leadership role in BRICS, the government completely joined the American-Israeli military camp in the ongoing war against Iran. It is also alleged that the Indian authorities today shamelessly surrendered before American imperialism and bargained national interests just to protect business interests of Gautam Adani.
Capitalism well takes care of its stock and class interests stand first either it be Epstein or Adani.
Who pays $ 10 billions?
Though Gautam Adani is the richest person in India, his wealth is solely accumulated from exploiting toiling people of India. His business activities are mostly financial in nature away from manufacturing and job creation. Indian public sector, financial institutions like public sector banks and LIC, as per reports, regularly supports Adani Group with lakhs of crore rupee loans for acquiring various assets. Crores of common Indian depositors would be the final losers when the big ticket loans are defaulted and waived. Public money transferred outside the nation, depletes already scarce foreign currency reserves and further weakens the rupee.
What Indian Government should do
- In this crisis time, the government of India should immediately institute a judicial enquiry into the multiple financial irregularities of Adani Group.
- The government should also impartially conduct SEBI investigations against Adani group.
- A charge sheet to prosecute both - the bribe givers and bribe takers, and undertake an independent domestic investigations by the Supreme Court of India on various financial irregularities of the Adani Group.
- Delinking Adani Group’s business interests, the government should initiate an independent trade and foreign policies to secure national interests.
[The writer, Dr. Soma Marla, is a retired Principal Scientist and Head (Genomics), ICAR, New Delhi. Views are personal.]
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