The Wolf of Dalal Street?

One week back we were shocked to hear that "Ahead of the launch of the Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) mega follow on public offer (FPO) of Adani Enterprises, Adani Group shares lost up to 10% in Wednesday's trade after Hindenburg Research said it holds short positions in companies owned by billionaire Gautam Adani." ET. "The report alleged that the Adani Group was involved 'in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades'." TOI. In a 413 page response, the Adani Group said that "The document is a malicious combination of selective misinformation and concealed facts relating to baseless and discredited allegations to drive an ulterior motive." ANI. Calling Hindenburg Research the "Madoffs of Manhattan", Adani Group accused it of conducting a "securities fraud". BS. Bernie Madoff, one time chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009 for running the largest ponzi scheme in history worth $64.8 billion. wikipedia. Adani Group called the report a "calculated attack" on India, its growth story and its institutions. TOI. "Fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignores every key allegation we raised," was Hindenburg's riposte. It questioned the billions of dollars of the Group's "suspicious dealings with the chairman's brother, Vinod Adani, and his labyrinth of offshore shell entities." Adani Group did not clarify its relation with Chinese national Chang Chung Ling, who ran Gudami International which was "said to have been part of a massive corruption scheme in the Augusta Westland scandal, one of India's largest bribery scandals". "The son of Chang Chung Ling is the beneficial owner of the major contractor to Adani Group called PMC Projects." Very specific charges. "While its rebuttal does go point for point, as it should, a zoom-out picture offered by these points doesn't inspire much confidence in the group's corporate governance." Mint. Adani Group "sought to explain AEL's ( Adani Enterprises Ltd) sky-high price earnings ratio as reflective of future value currently in incubation" and "claimed that the fraction of pledged equity in major firms had dropped by 2021-22 to under a fifth." "Pledged equity" means money borrowed against shares as collateral. ET. About "30% of Adani's borrowings are denominated in foreign currencies," wrote Shuli Ren. "For instance, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, the group's biggest dollar-note issuer, is rated at BBB-, the lowest level of investment grade." "One bad margin call on pledged shares, one credit rating downgrade, and everything unravels." In October, UK pension funds had to dump assets to meet margin calls forcing the Bank of England to buy government bonds to stabilize markets and the pound. Public sector banks are controlled by the government, but will any private or foreign bank dare to initiate a margin call on Adani? If one bank does, others may be forced to fall in line and suddenly everything could collapse. Adani denied being personal friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters. And yet, his FPO for Rs 200 billion sailed through with the help of fellow industrialists. ET. There was The Wolf of Wall Street. wikipedia. What about 'The Wolf of Dalal Street'? Great suspense.