Mutual Funds Pour Over ₹2,000 Crore into Adani Stocks in July Buying Frenzy

In July, mutual funds invested over ₹2,000 crore in various Adani Group companies, with eight of the conglomerate's listed entities experiencing net buying, while Ambuja Cement saw a slight decline in investment.

Notably, mutual fund investments in the group have been steadily increasing over recent months. In June, mutual funds recorded net buying of ₹990 crore in Adani Group companies, which was an increase from the ₹880 crore recorded in May.

The overall value of mutual fund holdings in the nine Adani Group firms reached ₹42,154 crore in July, up from ₹39,227 crore in June.

This surge in mutual fund activity followed significant share purchases by Adani Group promoters during the June quarter, where promoters acquired shares worth ₹23,000 crore, a move that analysts viewed positively.

Adani Ports & SEZ saw the highest mutual fund investments, with over ₹1,100 crore in shares purchased, followed by Adani Enterprises at ₹890 crore, and Adani Power at ₹218 crore.

Other companies such as ACC Ltd, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Wilmar Ltd also saw mutual fund purchases, ranging from ₹1 crore to ₹88 crore. Conversely, Ambuja Cements experienced a net selling of ₹338 crore.

In the case of Adani Ports & SEZ, SBI MF was the leading buyer, purchasing shares worth ₹854 crore, followed by Kotak MF with ₹188 crore, and UTI MF with ₹152 crore. Other significant buyers included ICICI Prudential, HDFC, and Nippon MF.

For Adani Enterprises, Invesco MF was the largest buyer with ₹378 crore in purchases, followed by SBI MF at ₹266 crore, and Quant MF at ₹111 crore. Tata MF led the buying in Adani Power with ₹223 crore, followed by Quant MF with ₹77 crore.

This wave of mutual fund investments occurred despite many asset management companies previously bypassing these stocks, even after notable price increases.

In January, India's Supreme Court ruled that no further investigations would be conducted against the Adani Group beyond SEBI's ongoing inquiry into allegations of stock manipulation and tax haven use, providing some relief to the conglomerate. These allegations, raised by Hindenburg Research, preceded the shelving of Adani Enterprises' ₹20,000 crore follow-on public offering (FPO).

In July, SEBI issued show-cause notices to Hindenburg Research, Mark Kingdon, and others for allegedly colluding to exploit non-public information to short Adani stocks, which led to significant market disruption.

The Adani Group is a diversified conglomerate with business interests spanning energy & utilities, transport & logistics, defense & aerospace, airports, water treatment, road, metro & rail, data centers, real estate, edible oils & food, and other sectors.