Indian media splinters over how to cover Adani indictment

By Diksha Madhok and Preeti Soni

After US federal prosecutors charged Gautam Adani and several associates with fraud, media coverage in India has ranged from dryly factual to over-the-top in its defensiveness, revealing a divide over how to appraise bribery accusations against one of the nation’s richest businessmen.

Most mainstream Indian newspapers on Friday splashed the charges across their front pages. In an editorial, The Times of India wrote that “Indians will have a wearying sense of familiarity when it comes to allegations about underhand deals.” The newspaper, one of India’s most popular, opined about whether the latest controversy might change how business is done in the South Asian nation, broadly concluding that the culture was unlikely to change.

On the other side, New Delhi Television Ltd, a major media organization owned by the Adani Group, noticeably downplayed the story. Even as the conglomerate’s stocks and bonds tumbled on Thursday, the outlet waited to publish a piece on its homepage until the Adani Group released a statement vigorously denying wrongdoing.

The charges have hit India hard. Federal prosecutors in New York allege that Adani and other defendants promised to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts — and then concealed the plan as they sought to raise money from US investors.

Along with describing details from the indictment and its impact on the group’s stocks and deals, English-language newspapers focused on the political fallout. Opposition leaders revived their questioning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal relationship with Adani, who’s among the wealthiest people in the world.

Some newspapers urged the Indian government to take the allegations seriously. Last year, after an activist short-seller in the US accused the Adani Group of fraud and stock market manipulation, officials largely brushed off questions.

“It would be a shame if we do not take the initiative to get to the bottom of the matter,” the business paper Financial Express said in its editorial, asking the government to order an “independent probe” into the Adani Group.

At some media outlets, the indictment is seen as US interference in India’s domestic matters. Arnab Goswami, a popular yet divisive anchor, said on Republic TV that “this is purely because Americans are very, very insecure about India,” and “they know the importance of the Adani Group as one of the key infrastructure players coming out of India.”

An editorial in The Indian Express newspaper warned against the danger of “seeing a foreign hand” in the controversy, adding that such a claim “insults the intelligence of the Indian investors.”