Modi’s future depends on national elections in Spring 2024 and important regional ones this year. In January, there was a clear Anglo-American assault on Modi and his key financial backer. Hindenburg Research, a shadowy Wall Street financial firm that supposedly does “forensic financial research” to uncover corruption or fraud in listed companies, emerged in 2017 and is suspected of having ties with US Intelligence.
In January, Hindenburg targeted Gautam Adani, the head of the Adani Group, an Indian billionaire and at the time reportedly the richest man in Asia, who also happens to be the major financial backer of Modi. Adani’s fortune has multiplied significantly since Modi became Prime Minister, often on ventures linked to Modi’s economic agenda.
Since the Hindenburg report alleging improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation was published on January 24, Adani Group companies have lost over $120 billion in market value. The Adani Group is the second-largest conglomerate in India, and opposition parties have pointed out that Modi is tied to Adani, with both being long-term friends from Gujarat in the same part of India.
The
Hindenburg report, which claims to be the result of two years of research and visits to half a dozen countries, accused Adani companies of, among other things, “that the INR 17.8 trillion (U.S. $218 billion) Indian conglomerate Adani Group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades…Our research involved speaking with dozens of individuals, including former senior executives of the Adani Group, reviewing thousands of documents, and conducting diligence site visits in almost half a dozen countries.” [i]
Hindenburg Research unveils the outcome of its extensive 2-year probe, presenting proof that the Indian conglomerate, Adani Group, with a worth of INR 17.8 trillion (U.S. $218 billion), has perpetrated a bold stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme throughout the years. Here’s everything about Adani Group’s $218 Billion stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme.
The Hindenburg’s attempt to discredit a vulnerable Indian company, requiring significant funds to conduct research, implies that they may have reliable sources or intelligence aiding them in their quest to target a group with close ties to Modi. Otherwise, it would have been a high-risk gamble or incredible luck.
In January 2023, the British government-owned BBC aired a TV documentary alleging Modi’s involvement in religious riots in Gujarat in 2002 when he was governor there. The report, which was based on intelligence provided by the UK Foreign Office, has been prohibited in India.
The Indian government, led by Modi, took extraordinary measures to suppress the BBC film in India, accusing the BBC of producing “propaganda” and raiding their offices for alleged tax offenses. Additionally, emergency powers were invoked to force social media companies to remove links to the BBC’s videos, and student protesters were arrested for organizing viewing parties on campuses throughout the country. [iii] The BBC touched a nerve with the help of the UK Foreign Office.
India Russia Ties
Modi, who has maintained a strict policy of neutrality since the Cold War and refused to join NATO sanctions against Russia, has taken advantage of the availability of Russian crude oil that the US and EU refuse. As a result, Russia is now the biggest supplier of crude oil to India, overtaking Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In December, India bought 1.2 million barrels of crude from Russia every day – 33 times more than a year earlier. Ironically, some of that Russian oil is being refined in India and re-exported to the EU, which has just banned Russian oil. Energy analysts suggest that “India is buying record amounts of severely discounted Russian crude, running its refiners above nameplate capacity, and capturing the economic rent of sky-high crack spreads and exporting gasoline and diesel to Europe.”
India’s consumption of Russian crude increased from just 1% before the start of the Ukraine war to 28% in January, and no other country has increased its consumption of Russian oil as much, not even China, which has also significantly increased its buying of Russian oil. Furthermore, India’s imports from Russia, including fertilizers and sunflower oil, climbed more than 400% in eight months to November from a year earlier.
It is worth noting that Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s largest company by market value, has been a major private sector buyer of Russian crude when it comes to making a huge profit from buying deeply-discounted Russian oil. Reliance, which owns the world’s largest refinery by capacity in Jamnagar, received 27% of its oil from Russia in May 2022, up from just 5% before April. This figure has likely increased since then. It is notable that Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance, sits on the board of the Davos World Economic Forum, which is a major promoter of ending crude oil and gas for the UN 2030 Green Agenda. It seems that ideology is nice, but huge profits are even nicer.
Enter George Soros