ADANIENT

March 20 (Reuters) -

• ADANI, EMAAR SAID TO BE DISCUSSING DEAL STRUCTURE FOR $1.4 BILLION INDIA UNIT- BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source: https://tinyurl.com/y5uup38j

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March 19 (Reuters) -

• ADANI GROUP: INVESTING 20 BILLION RUPEES TO ESTABLISH INSTITUTION AND FINISHING SCHOOL AT MUNDRA

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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By Sarita Chaganti Singh and Arpan Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI, March 13 (Reuters) - The Indian government has asked a local court to deliver a summons issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to billionaire Gautam Adani over alleged securities fraud and a $265 million bribery scheme, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

The summons, which was issued under Hague Service Convention that does not allow the serving of legal documents directly to defendants in India, would require Adani or his legal counsel to appear in the case in the United States, Indian lawyers said.

Adani Group has denied the allegations, describing them as "baseless" and vowing to seek "all possible legal recourse".

India's federal ministry of law has asked a district court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Adani's home state, to deliver the summons to him, the letter dated February 25 shows.

"The summons seems to be for appearance in a court in New York. If service is effected through the Indian court, the respondents will have to appear," said Arshdeep Khurana, a criminal lawyer in India.

Adani and India's law ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The summons does not imply an extradition risk for the businessman, who oversees a sprawling conglomerate spanning airport construction to media, another lawyer said.

"Extradition proceedings only come in to the picture if the U.S. court issues warrants of arrest," said Malak Bhatt, founding partner at NM Law Chambers.

Reuters reported on February 18 that the SEC was making efforts to serve its complaint on Gautam Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, and was seeking help from India to do so.

Reuters could not determine if the summons against Adani's nephew has also been processed.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month said he did not discuss the Adani case with U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington.

(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh and Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

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Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• SRI LANKA CABINET SPOKESPERSON: HAVE NOT CHANGED STANCE ON ADANI, SRI LANKA WELCOMES INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

• SRI LANKA CABINET SPOKESPERSON: SRI LANKA REMAINS FIRM ON THE STANCE THAT RATES HAVE TO BE RENEGOTIATED

• SRI LANKA CABINET SPOKESPERSON: DO NOT WANT TO RELY ON ONE COUNTRY FOR INVESTMENT, WANT FAIR DEAL FOR SRI LANKANS

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

March 9 (Reuters) - Fitch:

• FITCH AFFIRMS ADANI ENERGY AT 'BBB-'; OFF RATING WATCH NEGATIVE; OUTLOOK NEGATIVE

• FITCH - RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ADANI ENERGY'S LIQUIDITY AND FUNDING REQUIREMENTS HAVE MODERATED

• FITCH- OUTLOOK ON ADANI ENERGY IS NEGATIVE TO REFLECT VIEW OF PENDING PROCEEDINGS AND OUTCOME OF US INVESTIGATIONS

• FITCH - ADANI GROUP DEMONSTRATED ADEQUATE FUNDING ACCESS SINCE US INDICTMENT OF CERTAIN BOARD MEMBERS OF ADANI GREEN ENERGY LIMITED

Source text: ID:nFIT9TKtKD

Further company coverage: ADAI.NS

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- Source link: (https://bitl.to/45Qk)

- Note: Reuters has not verified this story and does not vouch for its accuracy

(Bengaluru newsroom)

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March 2 (Reuters) - India's infrastructure-focussed Adani Group has revived plans for major investments in the U.S., the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The business group has reactivated potential plans to fund projects in sectors such as nuclear power and utilities as well as an east coast port, the report said, citing four people close to group founder and chair Gautam Adani.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)

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Feb 21 (Reuters) - Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• ADANI PORTS MD: ADANI GROUP TO INVEST 55 BILLION RUPEES TO EXPAND THE TRIVANDRUM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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Adds Modi comment, details; paragraphs 4,6-8

NEW DELHI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked Indian authorities for help in its investigation of Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and his nephew over alleged securities fraud and a $265-million bribery scheme, a court filing showed on Tuesday.

The regulator told a New York district court it was making efforts to serve its complaint on the founder and his nephew, Sagar Adani, and was seeking help from India's law ministry to do so.

Neither individual is in U.S. custody, and both are now in India.

"The SEC has requested assistance ... under the Hague service convention," it said in the court filing.

Adani Group and India's law ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he did not discuss the Adani case with U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington, describing it to reporters as an individual issue never discussed by leaders.

India's opposition Congress party has called for Adani's arrest and accused Modi of shielding him or favouring him in deals in the past. Modi's party and Adani have denied the charges.

Last year, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment accusing Adani of bribing Indian officials to convince them to buy electricity produced by Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS, a subsidiary of his Adani Group.

He then misled U.S. investors by providing reassuring information about the company's anti-graft practices, it added.

Adani Group has called the accusations "baseless" and vowed to seek "all possible legal recourse".

In January, Adani Green said it had appointed independent law firms to review the U.S. indictment.

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Clarence Fernandez)

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Feb 18 (Reuters) -

• US SEC SEEKS INDIAN AUTHORITIES HELP IN SERVING ITS COMPLAINT TO GAUTAM ADANI, SAGAR ADANI IN RELATION TO US INDICTMENT OF LAST YEAR - COURT FILING

• SEC HAS REQUESTED ASSISTANCE FROM INDIA’S MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE UNDER THE HAGUE SERVICE CONVENTION IN RELATION TO THE ADANI CASE - COURT FILING

• SEC’S EFFORTS TO SERVE ITS COMPLAINT TO GAUTAM ADANI, SAGAR ADANI IN CASE RELATED TO US INDICTMENT "ONGOING"--COURT FILING

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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Feb 17 (Reuters) - Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• ADANI FOUNDATION COMMITS 20 BILLION RUPEES TO OPEN SCHOOLS ACROSS CITIES

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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By Nivedita Bhattacharjee

BENGALURU, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Indian conglomerate Adani Group is a finalist, alongside two government-linked groups, to take over private production of India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The SSLV, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation, is a low-cost vehicle capable of deploying satellites of up to 500 kg (1,100 pounds) into low-Earth orbit, or LEO - the most sought after segment of the satellite launch market.

After its first successful launch in 2023, the government moved to transfer the vehicle’s production and technology to private industry as part of a broader push to expand India’s commercial space sector.

That move has been the highest-profile piece of India's privatisation efforts, which the government hopes will help the country claim a greater share of the booming global satellite launch market, dominated by private players such as SpaceX.

“LEO is the name of the game right now, so the potential winner has the opportunity to really tap into a rapidly growing market,” said Damodaran Raman, a director at Deloitte who soecialises in space tech.

About 20 companies initially expressed interest in bidding for the SSLV, the first privatisation of its kind under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy drive to open up India’s space industry.

The three finalist consortiums include Alpha Design Technologies, in which Adani Defence Systems and Technologies owns a stake; state-backed Bharat Dynamics Limited BARA.NS; and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HIAE.NS. Reuters could not verify the exact structure of each bidding group.

The companies did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The sources did not want to be named because details of the bids are not public.

The winning company is expected to pay India's space agency about 3 billion rupees ($30 million) for the SSLV, covering design know-how, manufacturing processes, quality-assurance training, and up to 24 months of technical support or two successful launches, according to one of the sources.

Beyond financial capability, bidders must demonstrate the ability to manufacture, sustain, and sell the SSLV.

A second source familiar with the matter said the limited availability of launch slots with major industry players such as SpaceX presents a significant opportunity for new entrants, with the possibility of positioning themselves as a go-to launch partner for South Asia.

The global satellite launch vehicle market is projected to grow from $5.6 billion in 2025 to $113 billion by 2030, with low-Earth orbit launches dominating, according to research firm Mordor Intelligence.

India accounts for only 2% of the global space economy. The Modi government aims to expand that share fivefold to $44 billion by the end of the decade.

Companies vying for the SSLV contract were required to be profitable, with the lead bidder having at least five years of manufacturing experience and an annual revenue of at least 4 billion rupees ($50 million), according to India’s space regulator.

($1 = 86.9500 Indian rupees)

($1 = 86.7540 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• ADANI GREEN LETTER: TO WITHDRAW FROM SRI LANKA WIND POWER PROJECTS

• ADANI GREEN: LEARNT THAT ANOTHER CABINET, PROJECT COMMITTEE WOULD BE CONSTITUTED TO RENEGOTIATE PROJECT PROPOSALS

• ADANI GREEN: BOARD DELIBERATED NEW COMMITTEE FORMATION AND DECIDED TO WITHDRAW FROM PROJECTS

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

Feb 12 (Reuters) -

• ADANI SIGNS $207 MILLION PRIVATE LOAN FOR AUSTRALIA COAL PORT- BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/3cw38eym

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Adds Adani Power exchange filing, paragraph 8

By Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Bangladesh has asked Adani Power to fully resume supplies from its 1,600-megawatt plant in India, a Bangladesh official said, after more than three months of reduced sales with supplies halved due to low winter demand and payment disputes.

Adani, which signed a 25-year contract under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2017, has been supplying power from its $2 billion plant in India's Jharkhand state. The plant, with two units each of 800 megawatts capacity, sells exclusively to Bangladesh.

Adani halved supply to Bangladesh on October 31 due to payment delays as the country battled a foreign exchange shortage. That led to the shutdown of one unit on November 1, resulting in the plant's operating at about 42% capacity.

Subsequently, Bangladesh told Adani to keep supplying only half the power.

The state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said it had been paying $85 million a month to Adani to clear outstanding dues and has now told the company to resume supply from the second unit.

"As per our requirement today, they have planned to synchronise the second unit, but due to the high vibration, it didn't happen," BPDB Chairperson Rezaul Karim told Reuters, referring to some technical problems that stopped the unit from restarting on Monday.

"Right now, we are making a payment of $85 million per month. We are trying to pay more, and our intention is to reduce the overdue. Now there is no big issue with Adani."

The dispatch of power by a power generator is dependent on the procurers' requirements, which keep changing, Adani Power said in an exchange filing late on Tuesday, while commenting on the Reuters report. This is a normal scenario and is addressed under contractual arrangements, it added in its statement.

BPDB and Adani officials were due to meet virtually on Tuesday following another meeting recently to work out various issues between them, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

In December, an Adani source said BPDB owed the company about $900 million, while Karim said at the time the amount was only about $650 million.

The pricing dispute revolves around how power tariffs are calculated, with the 2017 agreement pricing off an average of two indexes. Adani's power costs Bangladesh about 55% more than the average of all Indian power sold to Dhaka, Reuters has reported.

A Bangladesh court has ordered an examination of the contract with Adani by a committee of experts, with results expected this month. This could potentially lead to contract renegotiations.

Last year, Bangladesh's interim government accused Adani of breaching the power-purchase agreement by withholding tax benefits that the Jharkhand plant received from New Delhi, Reuters reported in December citing documents. Bangladesh officials also said they were reviewing the contract.

A spokesperson for Adani told Reuters at the time that it had upheld all contractual obligations with Bangladesh and had no indication Dhaka was reviewing the contract.

Karim has not replied to Reuters' questions on whether the two sides have resolved their differences.

In November, U.S. prosecutors indicted Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and seven other executives for their alleged role in a $265 million bribery scheme in India. Adani Group has called the U.S. allegations "baseless".

In September, the Bangladesh government appointed a panel of experts to examine major energy deals signed by Hasina, who fled to New Delhi in August after deadly student-led protests.

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sonali Paul)

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NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday said his family will invest over 60 billion rupees ($686.18 million) to launch two affordable health campuses in Mumbai and Ahmedabad in consultation with the U.S.-based Mayo Clinic.

Each campus will have hospitals, medical colleges, transitional care and research facilities, with technical expertise provided by the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic Global Consulting, according to a statement from the Adani group.

Adani said the health campuses were the first projects to come from a 600 billion rupee-pledge towards healthcare, education and skills development made two years ago.

The Adani group is also revamping Asia's largest slum into a modern city hub. But the $619 million deal to redevelop Mumbai's Dharavi slum has faced opposition from residents over its capacity to deliver.

In November, U.S. authorities accused founder Adani and some top executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes worth $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts. The Adani group has called the charges "baseless".

($1 = 87.4410 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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Feb 4 (Reuters) - Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• GETS TAX PENALTY OF 396.4 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE44CXWw

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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Jan 30 (Reuters) -

• ADANI REMAPPING WIND PROJECTS AS SRI LANKA SEEKS LOWER ELECTRICITY TARIFFS - BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/2zy7337c

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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Jan 28 (Reuters) -

• SRI LANKA CABINET SPOKESPERSON: GOVERNMENT ALREADY STARTED TALKS WITH ADANI TO REDUCE POWER PURCHASING COSTS OF WIND POWER PROJECT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: ADNA.NS

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Rewrites throughout, adds details of project under scrutiny, context on impact of bribery allegations

Jan 24 (Reuters) - India's Adani Green ADNA.NS said it has appointed independent law firms to review the U.S. indictment of founder Gautam Adani and top Adani Green executives for paying $265 million in bribes for power contracts.

The appointment of the law firms was announced in a 33-page earnings regulatory filing made by Adani Green late on Thursday, where it did not disclose the names of the firms, but said it continued to assert the company's compliance of applicable laws and regulations.

In November, U.S. authorities indicted Adani, his nephew and Executive Director Sagar Adani and Managing Director Vneet S. Jaain, alleging that they paid bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts, and misleading U.S. investors during fund raises there.

The Adani Group has denied the charges, calling them "baseless."

A key focus of the U.S. investigation is a 2021 solar energy deal in Andhra Pradesh state, where the Solar Energy Corporation of India awarded a major renewables contract.

The deal, approved within 57 days, bypassed concerns raised by finance and energy officials over its value and potential financial strain on the state, ultimately benefiting Adani Green Energy, Reuters reported last month.

The company has not been named as a defendant in the indictment and civil complaint, and said on Thursday it had made all appropriate disclosures in the past including in bond offering circulars.

The U.S. bribery allegations had raised concerns among some partners and investors of the group, with at least one Indian state reviewing its power deal with Adani, and TotalEnergies TTEF.PA halting further investments in the conglomerate.

Shares of Adani Green, which have lost over 27% since the U.S. indictment, were down 0.5% as of 0554 GMT.

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR, Indranil Sarkar; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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DUBAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Emaar Properties EMAR.DU, Dubai's largest listed real estate firm, is in talks with "a few groups" in India including Adani Group to sell a stake of its Indian business, it said on Thursday.

The builder of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and other iconic parts of Dubai, said in a statement that the valuation and other terms of a potential deal were not finalised, without adding further details.

The statement followed media reports on Wednesday stating that Adani Realty, the real estate unit of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's Adani Enterprise ADEL.NS, was in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Emaar India.

Emaar started its operations in the country in 2005 and has a portfolio of residential and commercial properties in Gurugram, Mohali, Lucknow, Jaipur and Indore, according to its website.

Besides India, it operates internationally in other markets including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the US.

($1 = 3.6726 UAE dirham)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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By Neha Arora

NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - India is expected to sign a preliminary agreement with Mongolia soon in the area of geology and exploration, a senior Indian government official with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Landlocked Mongolia is rich in deposits of copper and coking coal, and India is mostly dependent on imports to meet rising demand for the red metal used in power, construction and electrical vehicles as well as coking coal for steelmaking.

"India's cabinet has approved the MoU (memorandum of understanding) and both countries are expected to sign it soon," the source said, declining to be identified as the deliberations are not yet public.

India's federal mines ministry did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Mongolia's Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comments.

Companies such as Adani, Hindalco and Vedanta have expressed an interest in sourcing copper from Mongolia, the source said. All three companies did not respond to emails from Reuters seeking comment.

Both Indian and Mongolian officials are working out supply routes for Indian companies to source copper and coking coal, with India preferring the route from Vladivostok in Russia despite the longer distance, the official said.

"China is convenient but we prefer the route from Russia," the official said.

Relations between Asian giants India and China were strained after a deadly military clash on their disputed border in 2020 but have been on the mend since they reached an agreement in October to pull back troops from their last two stand-off points in the western Himalaya mountains.

Unlike China, India has traditionally maintained close ties with Russia.

Resource-rich Mongolia can offer superior grades of coking coal, industry officials say.

In November, India's JSW Steel JSTL.NS and state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) SAIL.NS were in talks with Mongolian authorities to import two shipments of coking coal, Reuters reported.

(Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Jan 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Gautam Adani is starting to move forward. The flagship firm of the Indian tycoon's infrastructure group laid out plans last week to exit a quarter century-old joint venture with Singaporean edible oil giant Wilmar International. The agreement offers clear benefits to the industrialist. It also hammers home the price he is paying for successive crises.

Adani Enterprises ADEL.NS will sell a 31% stake in Adani Wilmar ADAW.NS, the maker of India's largest cooking oil brand, to its partner for roughly $1.4 billion or less. That will leave the $15 billion Singaporean group with 75% of the Mumbai-listed company in a growing market for commodities Wilmar deals in, including rice, wheat flour and sugar.

There’s a caveat, though. Wilmar has bought itself a year to buy those shares and locked in a discount. Though the agreed ceiling price is only 7% less than the last close, Adani Wilmar was among the tycoon's stocks worst-hit in a short seller campaign in early 2023 and the shares of the company remain some 40% lower than before the attack.

That also buys time for the joint venture to look for new strategic partners. The regulator requires Adani Wilmar to raise its minimum public shareholding to at least 25% by February, up from 12% currently, and so Adani Enterprises will sell its remaining 13% stake to other investors.

The larger agreement with Wilmar helps because it offers prospective minority owners visibility on the ownership structure and valuation at a time when the Indian group's patriarch is facing U.S. charges of bribery, accusations he denies. Wilmar too will only increase its own stake in the venture once the freefloat hurdle is resolved.

Ultimately, Adani Enterprises' exit makes sense and will reinforce confidence in its ability to keep investing in its core infrastructure assets including renewable energy; lenders behind the wider group's $30 billion gross debt are still digesting the implications of the U.S. legal problems. These did not prompt Adani's decision to call time on the joint venture but it almost certainly cost it a better deal.

Follow @ShritamaBose on X

CONTEXT NEWS

India's Adani Enterprises said on Dec. 30 that it will exit its consumer goods joint venture with Singapore's Wilmar International in a two-part transaction.

Adani Enterprises will transfer a 31% stake in Adani Wilmar to its partner at a price not exceeding 305 rupees per share, the edible oil maker joint venture said in a stock exchange filing.

Singapore's Wilmar said its purchase of the stake will take place through call and put options exercisable only after twelve months from the date of the agreement. However, it added, the parties agreed to explore options to expedite the transaction once Adani Wilmar meets an unrelated regulatory requirement to increase its public shareholding.

To fulfil this obligation, Adani Enterprises and related entities first plan to sell their remaining 13% stake in Adani Wilmar to external shareholders.

(Editing by Una Galani and Aditya Srivastav)

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Dec 31 (Reuters) - India's Adani Wilmar ADAW.NS fell over 6% in early trade on Tuesday, a day after the Adani Group said it would sell its entire 44% stake in the consumer goods company in a $2 billion deal to focus on strengthening its infrastructure businesses.

The group will sell a 31% stake in Adani Wilmar to its joint venture partner, Singapore's Wilmar International WLIL.SI, at a maximum of 305 rupees per share, which is a 7.2% discount to the stock's closing price on Monday.

Adani Wilmar's shares dropped 6.4% to 307.10 rupees in early trading.

The Adani group will sell the remaining 13% stake in the edible oil maker in the open market, it said.

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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Dec 30 (Reuters) - Wilmar International Ltd WLIL.SI:

• ENTERS AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE 31.06% OF ADANI WILMAR

• OPTION PRICE PER EQUITY SHARE CAPPED AT INR305

Further company coverage: WLIL.SI

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Dec 26 (Reuters) - Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• ADANI ENTERPRISES LTD - ACQUIRED 26% STAKE IN GIDHMURI PATURIA COLLIERIES

Source text: ID:nBSE53c55d

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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Dec 23 (Reuters) - Adani Enterprises Ltd ADEL.NS:

• ADANI DEFENCE & AEROSPACE TO ACQUIRE AIR WORKS INDIA (ENGINEERING)

• DEAL FOR ENTERPRISE VALUE OF 4 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE3w1vPB

Further company coverage: ADEL.NS

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By Dhwani Pandya and Arpan Chaturvedi

MUMBAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) - An Indian court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the award of a contract to Adani Group to revamp one of Asia's largest slums in Mumbai, clearing one of the main legal challenges to the ambitious project.

The group led by billionaire Gautam Adani won a $619 million bid in 2023 to convert the Dharavi slum into a modern city hub, but Dubai-based SecLink Technologies Corporation, winner of a previous tender for the slum revamp, challenged the award of the contract to Adani in a petition in the Bombay High Court in July 2023.

The 240 hectare (594 acre) slum, known as Asia's densest and featured in Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning 2008 movie "Slumdog Millionaire", stands in contrast to India's development boom with its open sewers and shared toilets, close to Mumbai's international airport and business district.

"The grounds urged in support of the petition lack force and accordingly, the challenge ... fails," the Bombay High Court concluded in the order.

SecLink will appeal against the ruling in the Supreme Court, Suraj Iyer, a lawyer from Ganesh and Co. representing SecLink, told Reuters.

SecLink had alleged in its petition that Maharashtra state improperly cancelled an original 2018 tender for the Dharavi redevelopment, for which SecLink had bid highest, and restarted the process with new terms in 2022 so that Adani could win.

SecLink had also received a Mumbai court's permission to add Adani Group to its lawsuit last year in an ongoing petition against the Maharashtra government.

In an 809-page filing last year, the eight-member consortium had said that Maharashtra's modified bidding process was "politically motivated" and "tailor made to suit" Adani Group.

But Friday's court order, referring to the second tender for the slum revamp that Adani won, ruled: "It cannot be said that the tender conditions were tailor-made so as to suit only a particular bidder."

The Maharashtra government, led by Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, and the Adani Group had denied all allegations in their response to the petition.

The Maharashtra government had said that its officials had followed the proper process in cancelling the earlier tender and Adani Group had argued that the case should be thrown out in the interest of development.

The Adani group is executing the Dharavi slum revamp via a joint venture with the Dharavi Slum Redevelopment Authority. It launched the project in March with a survey to determine the eligibility of slum residents for getting a free home.

(Reporting by Dhwani Pandya and Arpan Chaturvedi, Editing by William Maclean)

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Repeats story from Thursday morning in Asia

By Krishna N. Das

DHAKA, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's interim government has accused energy supplier Adani Power of breaching a multi-billion-dollar agreement by withholding tax benefits that a power plant central to the deal received from New Delhi, according to documents seen by Reuters.

In 2017, the Indian company controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani signed an agreement with Bangladesh to provide power from its coal-fired plant in eastern India. Dhaka has said it hopes to renegotiate the deal, which was awarded by then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina without a tender process and costs Bangladesh far more than its other coal power deals, according to Bangladesh power agency documents and letters between the two parties reviewed by Reuters, as well as interviews with six Bangladesh officials.

Dhaka has been behind on payments to Adani Power since supply started in July 2023. It owes several hundred million dollars for energy that has already been supplied, though the two sides dispute the exact size of the bill.

Bangladesh's de facto power minister Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan told Reuters the country now had enough domestic capacity to cope without the Adani supply, though not all domestic power generators were operational.

Nobel peace prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took power in August after a student-led revolution ousted Hasina, who critics accuse of stifling democracy and mismanaging the economy. She ran Bangladesh for most of the last two decades and was a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reuters is reporting for the first time that the contract came with an additional implementation agreement that addressed the transfer of tax benefits. The news agency is also revealing details about Bangladesh's plan to reopen the 25-year deal, and that it hopes to use the fallout from U.S. prosecutors' November indictment of Adani and seven other executives for their alleged role in a $265 million bribery scheme to press for a resolution.

Adani Power has not been accused of wrongdoing in Bangladesh. A company spokesperson said in response to Reuters' questions that it had upheld all contractual obligations and had no indication Dhaka was reviewing the contract. The company did not answer questions about the tax benefits and other issues raised by Bangladesh.

Adani Group has called the U.S. allegations "baseless."

TAX EXEMPTIONS

Adani Power's Godda plant runs off imported coal and was built to serve Bangladesh.

The company said the Bangladesh deal helped further Indian foreign policy objectives and Delhi in 2019 declared the plant part of a special economic zone. It enjoys incentives such as exemptions on income tax and other levies.

The power supplier was required to inform Bangladesh swiftly of changes in the plant's tax status and to pass on the "benefit of a tax exemption" from India's government, according to the contract and implementation agreement signed on Nov. 5, 2017 between Adani Power and the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

But Adani Power did not do so, according to letters sent by BPDB on Sept. 17, 2024 and Oct. 22, 2024 that urged it to remit the benefits.

The agreements and letters are not public but were seen by Reuters.

Two BPDB officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media, said they did not receive responses.

BPDB estimates savings of roughly 0.35 cents per unit of power if the benefit was passed on, the officials said. The Godda plant supplied 8.16 billion units in the year to June 30, 2024, according to an undated Bangladesh government summary of power purchases seen by Reuters, suggesting potential savings of about $28.6 million.

Power minister Khan said the savings would be a key part of future discussions with Adani Power.

'NEGOTIATED HASTILY'

Bangladesh in November scrapped a 2010 law that allowed Hasina to award some energy deals without a competitive bidding process.

The absence of tenders is unusual, said Tim Buckley, director of Australia's Climate Energy Finance think-tank, adding that auctions ensure "the best price possible."

In September, Yunus's government appointed a panel of experts to examine major energy deals signed by Hasina. A Bangladesh court has separately ordered a probe of the Adani deal.

Another panel asked to study the economy said in a white paper submitted to Yunus on Dec. 1 that the U.S. charges against Adani meant Bangladesh should "scrutinise" the power deal, which it described as "negotiated hastily."

Hasina, who has not been seen in public since she fled to India, could not be reached. Her son and adviser Sajeeb Wazed told Reuters he was not aware of the Adani Power deal but that he was "sure there was no corruption."

"I can only assume the Indian government lobbied for this deal so it was made," he said in response to allegations of political interference.

Modi's office and other Indian officials did not respond to requests for comment.

HARDBALL

On Oct. 31, Adani Power halved the power supply from Godda in response to the payment dispute with Bangladesh.

The company in a July 1 letter seen by Reuters also rejected a request from BPDB to extend a discount it had offered until May - resulting in savings of about $13 million for Bangladesh. It said it would not consider further discounts until payment was cleared.

Adani Power contends it is owed $900 million, while BPDB says arrears are about $650 million. Bangladesh suffers from a dollar shortage and BPBD officials told Reuters they haven't been able to obtain sufficient foreign currency for payment.

The halving of supply particularly angered Bangladesh, BPDB Chair Md. Rezaul Karim said, because it came after Dhaka in October remitted $97 million to Adani Power - its highest monthly payment this year.

The dispute revolves around how power tariffs are calculated, with the 2017 agreement pricing off an average of two indices.

The unit cost of energy from Godda was 55% above the average of all Indian power sold to Dhaka, according to the summary of Bangladesh's power purchases.

Bangladesh is pressing for Adani Power to use other benchmarks that would lower the tariff after one of the indices was revised last year, said three BPDB sources.

Adani Power has rejected that, one of them said, adding the two sides were meeting soon.

The agreements stipulate that arbitration be carried out in Singapore, but Khan said Bangladesh's next move depended on the outcome of the court-ordered investigation.

"If it is proven that bribery or irregularities had happened, then we will have to follow the court order if any cancellation happens," he said.

($1 = 119.0000 taka)

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in Dhaka; Additional reporting by Maksud Un Nabi; Editing by Katerina Ang)

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Updates with post-publication response from ex-chief minister

By Sarita Chaganti Singh, Sudarshan Varadhan

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The approach from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on Sept. 15, 2021 came out of the blue. The federal agency, tasked with developing the solar sector, wanted to know if the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh would like to sign India's largest renewables contract.

Two years earlier, Andhra Pradesh's energy regulator had said in a 10-year forecast the state had no short-term need for solar power, and should focus on other renewables that could provide 24-hour energy.

But just a day after SECI approached the state government, the 26-member state cabinet led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy gave the deal its preliminary approval, according to cabinet records seen by Reuters.

While SECI's Sept. 15 letter did not name the energy supplier, it was publicly known at the time that the federal agency had only contracted with two suppliers, the larger of which was controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, according to past statements from the two companies.

By Nov. 11, the state government had secured the nod from the energy regulator. On Dec. 1, state authorities signed a procurement agreement with SECI for the deal, which could eventually be worth over $490 million annually.

As much as 97% of that will go to Adani Green, the renewables unit of the billionaire's Adani Group conglomerate, according to documents related to the agreement, reviewed by Reuters.

The news agency spoke to a former state power regulator and an energy legal expert who said the 57 days between SECI's approach to the state government and regulatory approval from the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) for the 7,000 megawatt deal was unusually fast, although timeframes for such deals can vary.

The solar deal is now under scrutiny by U.S. prosecutors, who indicted Adani and seven other executives in November for alleged involvement in a bribery and securities fraud scheme involving several Indian states and one territory.

U.S. prosecutors allege that $228 million was offered to an unnamed Andhra Pradesh official by the defendants to direct the state's electricity distribution companies to purchase the solar power supplied to SECI by Adani Green.

Reuters reviewed 19 state government documents, many of them previously unreported, and interviewed more than two dozen state and federal officials about the deal, as well as independent energy and legal professionals. Most of the people spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Together they provide a picture of how political leaders overruled advice from finance and energy officials in order to approve the massive Adani deal. Some officials have publicly described the contract as likely to strain the state's coffers, potentially leaving taxpayers on the hook for thousands of megawatts of energy that Andhra Pradesh does not need.

Adani Green did not respond to Reuters' questions about the alleged corruption nor the speed of the approval process. Adani Group has previously called the allegations "baseless."

SECI told Reuters in a statement it was up to states and their regulators to decide how much power to purchase. It declined to answer other questions.

The office of Reddy, who was not named in the U.S. indictment and lost power in an election this year, referred Reuters to a Nov. 28 statement in which he denied being bribed and justified the deal on grounds it provided free power to farmers. Reddy's office declined to answer other questions.

A spokesperson for Reddy's party said after this story was published that state energy officials had thoroughly analysed the contract. The official said Andhra Pradesh had signed a good deal because solar prices had not fallen significantly since 2021.

APERC, which regulates the state's power sector and was responsible for due diligence on the deal, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on its processes and the U.S. allegations.

The current state government also did not respond to requests for comment.

DUE DILIGENCE

For most of Sept. 15, 2021 then-energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy was unaware of any potential solar deal, he told Reuters.

But late that night, he received a call from a person in his office, whom he did not identify, about a proposal that required his signature for discussion in cabinet the next day, said Srinivasa Reddy, who joined a rival party this year.

"Never before" had he been so rushed to approve files, he said, and he was not given "details or time to study the matter."

Srinivasa Reddy said he signed off after being assured by a senior official at his department, whom he also did not identify, that the contracting party was SECI. He said he had "no idea the supplier was Adani."

Srikant Nagulapalli, who declined to comment, was then the top civil servant in Srinivasa Reddy's department. Reuters could not establish if Reddy consulted him or if he provided assurances about the deal.

The next day, cabinet approved the deal "in principle," according to minutes from the cabinet meeting, allowing the regulatory process to be fast-tracked.

On Oct. 21, the Andhra Pradesh Power Coordination Committee (APPCC) - which had been tasked with studying the deal after the preliminary approval - filed a report recommending the deal.

The committee was established by the state government to coordinate between state-owned distribution companies; its members include the state's top energy official and company executives.

Seven days later, the Andhra Pradesh cabinet officially committed to procuring 7,000 megawatts from SECI.

In doing so, it overrode advice from officials at the finance and energy departments that the contract did not represent good value.

On Oct. 28 - the same day as the cabinet meeting that approved the deal but before the greenlight was given - the finance department made a submission to the cabinet stating there was an industry trend of falling solar prices and that future agreements would likely be cheaper, according to cabinet minutes.

It said Andhra Pradesh had leverage because the government was the buyer, offering the supplier security that a default would be unlikely.

The treasury also questioned the duration of the 25-year contract, especially since supply was scheduled to start only in 2024, according to the minutes. The treasury said it believed costs could continue to fall in the period between agreeing the contract and power being supplied.

The energy department endorsed the treasury's advice.

The records of the cabinet deliberations do not document any discussion about the finance and energy departments' concerns beyond a statement in the minutes that the cabinet was "duly overruling the finance remark."

Andhra Pradesh will pay 2.49 rupees per kilowatt-hour when the solar power comes online, according to the agreement.

An Adani Green spokesperson told Reuters that supply would be delayed beyond 2024, citing delays in "grid availability."

However, an analysis released by the office of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu - who ousted Reddy's government in elections this year - found the state would likely have to pay more, because the contract did not account for certain taxes and duties that are typically included in such calculations.

A state official familiar with the matter said Andhra Pradesh is likely to pay as much as 23% over the price it agreed in the Adani contract once the taxes and duties are included.

Andhra Pradesh is now seeking to suspend the deal due to the indictment of Gautam Adani. A decision could come by year-end, an official told Reuters.

If the Adani deal goes ahead, the state treasury will be directly on the hook for solar bills running hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to Reuters' review of contract documents. Annual payments to Adani once the power supply is fully operational will be roughly equal to state spending on social security and nutrition programs for the previous fiscal year.

($1 = 84.8380 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh in New Delhi and Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore; Editing by Aftab Ahmed and Katerina Ang)

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