Adani Ports falls after Deloitte quits as auditor

Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, India's largest private port operator, dropped 3.7 per cent in early trade on Monday after the company's auditor Deloitte resigned, also dragging other group companies down. Deloitte's move came amid concerns over certain related party transactions flagged in a report by U.S. short seller Hindenburg and which the Adani group company did not wish to look into independently, a source told Reuters on Friday.

The group, led by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, has denied Hindenburg's allegations of alleged improper use of tax havens and other business dealings. The country's market regulator is due to submit its final report on the Adani Group to the top court later in the day on its investigations into the short seller's allegations.

"The spotlight is back on Adani Group stocks and this time the auditor has raised concerns and resigned. Such developments are never welcomed by market participants," said Prashant Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities. Adani Ports said over the weekend that the reason offered by Deloitte to quit was "not convincing or sufficient to warrant such a move" and the global auditing firm had all the necessary information it required to conduct the process.

Scrips of other Adani group companies, including the flagship Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Energy Solutions have declined between 4 per cent and 5.5 per cent.