Adani Group Stocks Surge as U.S. Drops Criminal Fraud Charges Against Gautam Adani

Shares of Adani Group companies jumped by as much as 5.3% on Tuesday after the Trump administration moved to dismiss criminal fraud charges against billionaire Gautam Adani. The U.S. Justice Department dropped the allegations, which had accused Adani and his associates of agreeing to pay $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure lucrative solar power contracts and subsequently misleading American investors. The decision significantly eases a major legal overhang that has loomed large over the ports-to-power conglomerate, which has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

While the criminal bribery charges were dropped, Adani Enterprises simultaneously resolved a separate legal issue with the U.S. Treasury Department. The flagship company agreed to pay a $275 million settlement to resolve alleged sanctions violations tied to its liquefied petroleum gas imports from Iran. This follows another recent legal resolution last week, where the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled its own separate civil lawsuit against Adani regarding the alleged Indian bribery scheme.

The removal of these legal hurdles triggered positive movement across several group stocks, which have remained highly volatile since short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate of stock manipulation in 2023. Market experts noted that clearing these legal obstacles will likely aid the conglomerate in securing debt refinancing and raising funds for new infrastructure projects. By Tuesday afternoon, the flagship Adani Enterprises traded up 1.75%, while Adani Green Energy—the unit directly tied to the initial U.S. bribery allegations—gained 1.77% after trading more than 5% higher earlier in the day.