News / Adani: we can weather bribery claims storm – it's 'business as usual'

© Timon Schneider |

Adani Group seems to be making a concerted effort to reaffirm that “it’s business as usual”, after the Indian conglomerate had been indicted in a New York court on alleged bribery charges. 

To quell controversy, Adani has opted out of a $553m loan from US lending agency Development Finance Corp (DFC) agreed upon last year for the development of a transhipment terminal at Sri Lanka’s Colombo port.   

Estimated to cost some $1bn in two phases, Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) is central to Adani’s growing global ambitions; but Adani Ports (APSEZ) told Indian market regulators, in a filing yesterday: “We have withdrawn our request for financing from the DFC. 

“The project will be financed through the company’s internal accruals and capital management plan,” it noted. 

The port and infrastructure behemoth, with operations at 13 locations in India, claimed the project was well on track for commissioning early next year. 

With concession rights spanning 35 years, CWIT is 51%-owned by Adani Ports, with the remainder split between its local partner, John Keells Holdings, and Sri Lanka Ports Authority.  It is expected to add 3.5m teu annually to Colombo’s strained capacity, providing an opportunity to boost transhipment volumes, a trade that had seen considerable disruptions in the early part of the year amid the Red Sea crisis.   

Meanwhile, it was widely speculated that the US indictment controversy, following the “Hindenburg fiasco”, would have a direct impact on Adani’s ability to raise funds for its expansion plans, due to potential investor scepticism, the Colombo project being at the heart of that uncertainty and debate. 

Industry analysts see the funding withdrawal as a pre-emptive move, as DFC was said to be taking a fresh “evaluation” look at the lending agreement. 

Despite a brief period of equity market setbacks, it is generally believed that Adani Ports has a strong balance sheet and a cash position allowing the company to demonstrate its ability and confidence to weather the storm.  

Operating revenue increased 13% and net income soared 42% year on year in H1 fiscal 24-25, the latest earnings report shows. 

APSEZ director and CEO Ashwani Gupta said: “We are pleased to witness continued growth across our operations, with our existing ports delivering strong volume ramp-ups and new capacity additions progressing as planned in Gopalpur, Vizhinjam and Colombo.” 

Additionally, some international financial institutions and rating agencies have continued to back Adani Group. 

“Compared with the Adani-Hindenburg episode in early 2023, Adani Group’s liquidity management awareness has improved meaningfully and should be able to weather the rainstorm with adequate short-term liquidity position,” Japanese investment bank Nomura said. 

And JP Morgan noted: The ability to scale and grow using internal cash flows in the case of Adani Ports gives us strong comfort.” 

Meanwhile, Adani’s newest port project in southern India, Vizhinjam, has begun phase 1 commercial operations, after months of trial vessel dockings that saw some 70 containership visits and 147,000 container exchanges. 

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