The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued two separate orders involving the Adani Group, bringing different outcomes to a long-running investigation into the group’s shareholding structure.
In one order dated September 28, SEBI said allegations that Vinod Adani controlled investments made by two offshore funds in four Adani Group companies were not established. In a separate settlement order issued the same day, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Energy Solutions, along with 14 directors including Gautam Adani, settled proceedings relating to alleged minimum public shareholding (MPS) violations by paying ₹1.48 crore.
The investigation dates back to complaints received by SEBI in June and July 2020 concerning the public shareholding of four Adani companies — Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Ports and Adani Transmission, now known as Adani Energy Solutions. SEBI began a formal investigation in October 2020.
The regulator subsequently issued a show-cause notice in September 2024, followed by a supplementary notice in March 2025. The case concerned whether the companies had complied with the prescribed 25% minimum public shareholding requirement and whether certain holdings reported as public shareholding should instead have been treated as promoter-group holdings.
At the centre of the separate proceedings against Vinod Adani were two foreign portfolio investors — Emerging India Focus Funds (EIFF) and EM Resurgent Fund (EMR). SEBI examined whether Vinod Adani exercised effective control over their investment decisions in the four Adani companies.
The regulator also examined his business and financial relationships with Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, as well as an investment-advisory arrangement involving Excel, an entity controlled by Vinod Adani, and GMAML, which took investment decisions for the funds.
SEBI said the evidence did not establish that Vinod Adani had a legal or contractual right to determine how the funds invested. It also found no sufficient evidence that he participated in investment decisions concerning the Adani Group companies.
The regulator noted that the advisory arrangement provided for non-binding advice. It also said that business or financial relationships with Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, by themselves, were insufficient to establish control over the investment decisions.
On that basis, SEBI concluded that the allegation of Vinod Adani exercising effective control over the offshore funds was not established. The related MPS allegation and the connected allegation under the Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices (PFUTP) regulations therefore did not survive.
SEBI did, however, impose ₹20 lakh penalties each on Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling for failing to provide correct and complete information during the investigation. The charge against Tejal Ramanlal Desai was not sustained.
The separate settlement proceeding produced a different outcome for the four Adani companies and their directors.
Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Energy Solutions, along with 14 directors, paid a combined ₹1.48 crore to settle the proceedings. Each of the four company-and-director groups paid ₹37.05 lakh jointly and severally. Gautam Adani and Rajesh Adani were among the individuals covered by the settlement.
The settlement does not amount to an admission or denial of the facts or conclusions of law contained in SEBI’s notices. The order also does not require the companies to make corrective shareholding disclosures or record a regulatory finding that the alleged MPS violations were committed.
SEBI’s latest orders therefore mark two distinct regulatory outcomes from the broader shareholding investigation. The adjudication against Vinod Adani ended with the regulator finding that the alleged control over the offshore investments could not be established. The proceedings involving the four listed companies and their directors were closed through settlement.
The four companies covered by the proceedings were Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Transmission, which has since been renamed Adani Energy Solutions.
The developments form part of wider regulatory scrutiny of Adani Group’s offshore investors and shareholding arrangements. SEBI’s records show both the final order concerning the alleged MPS violation and the separate settlement order were issued on September 28, 2026.
The latest orders thus close the specific proceedings covered by them, while separate regulatory matters concerning the Adani Group and offshore investors remain subject to their respective processes. Reuters reported that SEBI continues to examine other issues involving offshore investors and alleged rule circumvention and market activity.