Shriram Subramanian Defends SEBI Against Hindenburg’s Allegations
New Delhi [India] July 2: Shriram Subramanian, founder and MD of InGovern, criticized Hindenburg Research’s accusations against SEBI, calling them uncalled for. He stated, “It is unclear on the reason why Hindenburg has come out so strongly against SEBI, to the extent of casting aspersions on SEBI. Hindenburg has only alienated SEBI and will have to perforce respond to the show cause notice.”
Subramanian emphasized that SEBI, as a regulator of Indian markets, has the right to question any market participants. He added, “The allegations on Hindenburg, they could be baseless. Only that’s the reason why a show cause is sent and it is for Hindenburg to substantiate why it’s baseless and respond to SEBI.”
Earlier, Hindenburg Research, in a post on its website, called SEBI’s show-cause notice on its 2023 report against Adani Group nonsensical and concocted. Hindenburg accused SEBI of not naming Kotak Bank, which it alleges created and oversaw the offshore fund structure used to bet against Adani.
A spokesperson for Kotak Mahindra International denied the allegations, stating, “Hindenburg has never been a client of the firm nor has it ever been an investor in the Fund. The Fund was never aware that Hindenburg was a partner of any of its investors.”
Shriram Subramanian also criticized Hindenburg for naming Kotak, saying, “The reference to Kotak seems to be out of place, as Kotak’s entity would have acted as a service provider to Hindenburg and its investor clients.”
Earlier, the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to Adani and instructed SEBI to probe entities involved in short selling. In line with this, SEBI has issued the show-cause notice to Hindenburg.
