Adani Enterprises, JSW Steel, Sesa Goa and NMD stock crashes after companies are indicted by Karnataka Lokayukta

AHMEDABAD: Shares of Adani Enterprises (AEL), JSW Steel, Sesa Goa and NMDC crashed after the Karnataka Lokayukta indicted these companies for dubious practices in mining iron ore in the state, with the wealth of the Adani Group shareholders eroding by as much as 25,000 crore.

Shares of Adani Enterprises nosedived the most as it was accused of not only paying bribes but also of allowing illegal iron ore exports through the Belekere port in Karnataka. The Lokayukta recommended the company be blacklisted and barred from bidding for any government contract.

The stock fell as much as 23% to a one-month low of Rs 573, recovered a bit to end at Rs 586.10 with trading volumes at 35 times its two-week average. Others, including JSW Steel and the state-run NMDC, collapsed under heavy sell-off. The report accused NMDC of under invoicing sales. The stock ended 2.6% lower at 240.15. Rs The JSW Steel stock lost 5.5% to Rs 774.20.

The companies did not comment till the time of going to press. Gautam Adani and the promoter group have seen an erosion of Rs 18,301 crore of wealth in group companies, out of the total Rs 23,568-crore M-cap loss, as they hold 78% in Adani Enterprises, 73% in Adani Power and 77% in Mundra Ports & SEZ. Adani Group had to face similar wrath from the market during last calendar when AEL had lost 16.99% on November 26 as the group's name appeared in a bribery case. It lost Rs 11,000 crore of M-cap in a single day for the first time and closed at Rs 584.70, down Rs 119.65 from its last close of Rs 704.25.