Gautam Adani, who became the world's one of the richest man in just five to six years, has done major financial scandal in India which raised concerns about the investment of Adani Group in Bangladesh.
Hindenburg Research, a US-based organization, has brought forward the whole incident of irregularities and fraud in Adani's rise to the top. Due to this financial fraud, extreme anxiety has now spread in the Indian stock market as well as the entire banking sector.
Due to the huge amount of loans, the existence of banks has become a turbulent situation. After this big financial scam in India, this time there is concern about the investment of Adani Group in Bangladesh. Because, this India-based business group had made a big hand in the Bangladesh’s market.
Adani Group is trying to invest in big projects in Bangladesh. There is also vigorous lobbying of the government for investment. A preliminary agreement has already been signed for investment in the power and port sectors of the country.
Bangladesh is currently suffering from acute dollar crisis, for which the country is taking a 4.5 billion dollar loan from the IMF. If Adani Group comes to Bangladesh they will have to pay a large share of dollars.
Economists believe that the country's dollar crisis may become more severe. The country's banking sector may fall into crisis.
A recent study Hindenburg Research has accused India's Gujarati industrial group Adani of fraud and stock market manipulation behind its extraordinary commercial boom.
Due to the report published by them, the shares of various organizations of this group collapsed in the stock market. Adani's share prices fell sharply. Without the market their FPOs (listed companies without more shares in the market) tend to wash away.
80 thousand crore rupees disappeared from the market in just two days. State-owned companies Bharatiya Jeevan Bima Corporation (LIC) and State Bank of India, which invested in the Adani group, suffered huge losses. Adani Group has plundered the Indian economy, says the company's research.
There is a lot of talk going on across India about the looting of the Adani Group. It has been identified as a major financial scam not only in India but also in the global economy.
According to the Hindenburg Research report, the Adani Group has been artificially inflating the share prices of its companies for a decade.
About $100 billion of Gautam Adani's $130 billion fortune has been acquired over the past three years through stock fraud by artificially inflating share prices.
Adani Group's largest investment in Bangladesh is the 1,600 MW Godda power plant. It is being built at a cost of around $2 billion. Although the power plant is located in Jharkhand, India, the entire electricity generated there will be exported to Bangladesh. In the meantime, it has been observed that the electricity price and capacity charge of the power plant is relatively high.
Those concerned said, electricity may have to be purchased at the highest cost in the history of Bangladesh from this Adani group.
On the other hand, Adani Group has expressed its desire to come into the business of food products. The leading company in the country's oil market, Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited (BEOL) is jointly owned by Singapore's Wilmar International Limited and India's Adani Group.
The company sells edible oils under Rupchanda, Fortune, King's, Mizan and Viola brands. Now Adani Group has started the process of completely taking over the Bangladesh edible oil market. Besides processing rice and selling packaged rice, they also want to come into the business of rice bran oil.
Adani Group has been given the task of building a special zone for Indian investors in the Mirsarai Economic Zone of Chattagram.
Apart from this, Adani Group has also carried out land filling by dredging the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEZA) project.
The group is also interested in investing in the renewable energy sector in Bangladesh. They are also trying to join the jetty and terminal management of ports in Bangladesh. If these investments are in Bangladesh, the government will provide money for all the projects.
Banks have to meet their entire dollar demand. This could make the ongoing dollar crisis worse. The entire banking sector of the country may fall into crisis.
Economist A. B. Mirza Azizul Islam said, “Always take prudent steps regarding foreign investment. The government should be more cautious in bringing in foreign investment, be it Adani Group or any investment.”
“One has to be more careful about those who complain about the economy. Damage is not recoverable in case of wrong action. So the government should be cautious in any investment,” he added.
@The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on February 01 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan
