ADANIPOWER

Updates March 21 story with statement from India commerce ministry

By Sarita Chaganti Singh, Shivangi Acharya

NEW DELHI, March 24 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has decided to let lapse a $23 billion program to incentivize domestic manufacturing, just four years after it launched the effort to woo firms away from China, according to four government officials.

The scheme will not be expanded beyond the 14 pilot sectors and production deadlines will not be extended despite requests from some participating firms, two of the officials said.

Some 750 companies, including Apple supplier Foxconn and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, signed up to the Production-Linked Initiative scheme, public records show.

Firms were promised cash payouts if they met individual production targets and deadlines. The hope was to raise the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25% by 2025.

Instead, many firms that participated in the program failed to kickstart production, while others that met manufacturing targets found India slow to pay out subsidies, according to government documents and correspondence seen by Reuters.

As of October 2024, participating firms had produced $151.93 billion worth of goods under the program, or 37% of the target that Delhi had set, according to an undated analysis of the program compiled by the commerce ministry. India had issued just $1.73 billion in incentives - or under 8% of the allocated funds, the document said.

News of the government's decision to not extend the plan and specifics about the lag in payouts are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

Modi's office and the commerce ministry, which oversees the program, did not respond to requests for comment. Since the plan's introduction, manufacturing's share of the economy has decreased from 15.4% to 14.3%.

In a separate statement on Saturday, the commerce ministry said participating firms had produced $163 billion worth of goods as of November 2024. The ministry did not say if the program would be allowed to expire but said PLIs have "incentivized domestic manufacturing, leading to increased production, job creation, and a boost in exports."

Foxconn, which now employs thousands of contract workers in India, and Reliance didn't return requests for comment.

Two of the government officials told Reuters the end of the program did not mean Delhi had abandoned its manufacturing ambitions and that alternatives were being planned.

The government last year defended the program's impact, particularly in pharmaceuticals and mobile-phone manufacturing, which have seen explosive growth. Some 94% of the nearly $620 million in incentives disbursed between April and October 2024 were directed to those two sectors.

In some instances, some food-sector companies that applied for subsidies weren't issued them due to factors such as "non compliance of investment thresholds" and companies "not achieving stipulated minimum growth," according to the analysis. The document did not provide specifics, though it found production in the sector had exceeded targets. Reuters could not determine which companies the analysis referred to.

But Delhi had previously acknowledged problems and agreed to extend some deadlines and increase payment frequency after complaints from PLI participants. One of the Indian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters, said that excessive red tape and bureaucratic caution continued to stymie the scheme's effectiveness.

As an alternative, India is considering supporting certain sectors by partially reimbursing investments made to set up plants, which would allow firms to recover costs faster than having to wait for production and sale, another official said.

Trade expert Biswajit Dhar at the Delhi-based Council for Social Development think-tank, who has said Modi's government needs to do more to attract foreign investment, said the country might have missed its moment.

The incentives program was "possibly the last chance we had to revive our manufacturing sector," he said. "If this kind of mega-scheme fails, do you have any expectation that anything is going to succeed?"

The stalling of manufacturing comes as India tries to circumvent the trade war unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticised Delhi's protectionist policies.

Trump's threat of reciprocal tariffs on countries like India that have a trade surplus with the U.S. means the export sector is increasingly challenged, said Dhar. "There was some amount of tariff protection ... and all that is going to be slashed."

HITS AND MISSES

The program was introduced at an opportune time for India: China, which for decades had been the world's factory floor, was struggling to maintain production amid Beijing's zero-COVID policy.

The U.S. was also seeking to reduce its economic reliance on an increasingly assertive Beijing, prompting many multinationals to pursue a "China plus one" policy of diversifying production lines.

With its large youthful population, lower costs and a government regarded as relatively friendly to the West, India seemed set to benefit.

India has become a global leader in pharmaceutical and mobile-phone production in recent years.

The country produced $49 billion worth of mobiles in the 2023-24 fiscal year, up 63% from 2020-21, government data show. Industry leaders like Apple now manufacture their newest and most sophisticated cellphones in India, after having started with low-cost models.

Similarly, pharmaceutical exports nearly doubled to $27.85 billion in 2023-24 from a decade ago.

But the success was not repeated in the other sectors, which include steel, textiles and solar panel manufacturing. India faces fierce competition from cheaper rivals like China in many of those fields.

In the solar industry, for instance, eight of the 12 companies that signed up to PLI are unlikely to meet their targets, according to a December 2024 analysis of the sector prepared by the renewable energy ministry and seen by Reuters. The eight firms included units of Reliance, Adani Group and the Indian conglomerate JSW.

The analysis found that the Reliance entity would only meet 50% of the production target it had been set for the end of the 2027 fiscal year, when the solar PLI scheme will expire. It also said that the Adani business had not ordered equipment it needed to manufacture the solar panels and that JSW had not "done anything yet."

JSW declined to comment, while Adani did not respond to questions.

The commerce ministry said in a January letter to the renewables ministry seen by Reuters that it would not agree to its counterpart's request to extend the scheme beyond 2027 as doing so "will result in unfair benefit for non-performers."

The renewables ministry said in response to Reuters' questions that it was committed to "fairness and accountability," as well as "ensuring that only those who meet their targets are rewarded."

In the steel sector, investment and production also lag targets. Fourteen of the 58 projects approved for PLIs have been withdrawn or removed due to lack of progress, according to the undated program-wide analysis.

($1 = 86.4425 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Sarita Chaganti Singh; Editing by Aftab Ahmed and Katerina Ang)

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NEW DELHI, March 22 (Reuters) - India's key manufacturing scheme received investments of nearly $19 billion as of November last year, the trade ministry said on Saturday, a day after Reuters reported New Delhi will let the $23-billion incentive program lapse amid disappointing results.

The incentive scheme will not be expanded beyond 14 pilot sectors and production deadlines will not be extended despite requests from some participating firms, Reuters has reported.

The trade ministry, in a statement, said private firms had produced goods worth nearly $163 billion under the scheme, 90% of the target until fiscal year 2024/25, and the government had in turn paid out less than $1.7 billion in incentives.

The payouts make for 8% of the scheme's intended subsidies, Reuters had reported.

Projects are implemented over two to three years and claims are usually made after the first year of production, as per the statement. "Hence, most of the projects are at implementation stage and will be filing incentive claims in due course."

The trade ministry's statement did not mention the Reuters report.

($1 = 85.9900 Indian rupees)

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Repeats story from Friday morning in Asia

By Sarita Chaganti Singh, Shivangi Acharya

NEW DELHI, March 21 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has decided to let lapse a $23 billion program to incentivize domestic manufacturing, just four years after it launched the effort to woo firms away from China, according to four government officials.

The scheme will not be expanded beyond the 14 pilot sectors and production deadlines will not be extended despite requests from some participating firms, two of the officials said.

Some 750 companies, including Apple supplier Foxconn and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, signed up to the Production-Linked Initiative scheme, public records show.

Firms were promised cash payouts if they met individual production targets and deadlines. The hope was to raise the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25% by 2025.

Instead, many firms that participated in the program failed to kickstart production, while others that met manufacturing targets found India slow to pay out subsidies, according to government documents and correspondence seen by Reuters.

As of October 2024, participating firms had produced $151.93 billion worth of goods under the program, or 37% of the target that Delhi had set, according to an undated analysis of the program compiled by the commerce ministry. India had issued just $1.73 billion in incentives - or under 8% of the allocated funds, the document said.

News of the government's decision to not extend the plan and specifics about the lag in payouts are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

Modi's office and the commerce ministry, which oversees the program, did not respond to requests for comment. Since the plan's introduction, manufacturing's share of the economy has decreased from 15.4% to 14.3%.

Foxconn, which now employs thousands of contract workers in India, and Reliance didn't return requests for comment.

Two of the government officials told Reuters the end of the program did not mean Delhi had abandoned its manufacturing ambitions and that alternatives were being planned.

The government last year defended the program's impact, particularly in pharmaceuticals and mobile-phone manufacturing, which have seen explosive growth. Some 94% of the nearly $620 million in incentives disbursed between April and October 2024 were directed to those two sectors.

In some instances, some food-sector companies that applied for subsidies weren't issued them due to factors such as "non compliance of investment thresholds" and companies "not achieving stipulated minimum growth," according to the analysis. The document did not provide specifics, though it found production in the sector had exceeded targets. Reuters could not determine which companies the analysis referred to.

But Delhi had previously acknowledged problems and agreed to extend some deadlines and increase payment frequency after complaints from PLI participants. One of the Indian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters, said that excessive red tape and bureaucratic caution continued to stymie the scheme's effectiveness.

As an alternative, India is considering supporting certain sectors by partially reimbursing investments made to set up plants, which would allow firms to recover costs faster than having to wait for production and sale, another official said.

Trade expert Biswajit Dhar at the Delhi-based Council for Social Development think-tank, who has said Modi's government needs to do more to attract foreign investment, said the country might have missed its moment.

The incentives program was "possibly the last chance we had to revive our manufacturing sector," he said. "If this kind of mega-scheme fails, do you have any expectation that anything is going to succeed?"

The stalling of manufacturing comes as India tries to circumvent the trade war unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticised Delhi's protectionist policies.

Trump's threat of reciprocal tariffs on countries like India that have a trade surplus with the U.S. means the export sector is increasingly challenged, said Dhar. "There was some amount of tariff protection ... and all that is going to be slashed."

HITS AND MISSES

The program was introduced at an opportune time for India: China, which for decades had been the world's factory floor, was struggling to maintain production amid Beijing's zero-COVID policy.

The U.S. was also seeking to reduce its economic reliance on an increasingly assertive Beijing, prompting many multinationals to pursue a "China plus one" policy of diversifying production lines.

With its large youthful population, lower costs and a government regarded as relatively friendly to the West, India seemed set to benefit.

India has become a global leader in pharmaceutical and mobile-phone production in recent years.

The country produced $49 billion worth of mobiles in the 2023-24 fiscal year, up 63% from 2020-21, government data show. Industry leaders like Apple now manufacture their newest and most sophisticated cellphones in India, after having started with low-cost models.

Similarly, pharmaceutical exports nearly doubled to $27.85 billion in 2023-24 from a decade ago.

But the success was not repeated in the other sectors, which include steel, textiles and solar panel manufacturing. India faces fierce competition from cheaper rivals like China in many of those fields.

In the solar industry, for instance, eight of the 12 companies that signed up to PLI are unlikely to meet their targets, according to a December 2024 analysis of the sector prepared by the renewable energy ministry and seen by Reuters. The eight firms included units of Reliance, Adani Group and the Indian conglomerate JSW.

The analysis found that the Reliance entity would only meet 50% of the production target it had been set for the end of the 2027 fiscal year, when the solar PLI scheme will expire. It also said that the Adani business had not ordered equipment it needed to manufacture the solar panels and that JSW had not "done anything yet."

JSW declined to comment, while Adani did not respond to questions.

The commerce ministry said in a January letter to the renewables ministry seen by Reuters that it would not agree to its counterpart's request to extend the scheme beyond 2027 as doing so "will result in unfair benefit for non-performers."

The renewables ministry said in response to Reuters' questions that it was committed to "fairness and accountability," as well as "ensuring that only those who meet their targets are rewarded."

In the steel sector, investment and production also lag targets. Fourteen of the 58 projects approved for PLIs have been withdrawn or removed due to lack of progress, according to the undated program-wide analysis.

($1 = 86.4425 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Sarita Chaganti Singh; Editing by Aftab Ahmed and Katerina Ang)

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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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Adds details, background throughout

March 2 (Reuters) - India's Adani Group has revived plans for major infrastructure investments in the U.S., where the group's founder has been charged with bribery, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Since the election of President Donald Trump, the conglomerate 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 founder and chair Gautam Adani.

Federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment in November accusing Gautam Adani of bribing Indian officials to persuade them to buy electricity produced by Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS.

"We know what we want to do, but we will wait until this (case) resolves," the FT quoted a person close to Adani as saying.

Adani Group has said the charges were "baseless" and that it would seek "all possible legal recourse." It did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the FT report.

The group had previously been in talks with U.S. companies on potential partnerships and had looked at petrochemical investments in Texas, the newspaper said.

After Trump's November election win, Gautam Adani said the group planned to invest $10 billion in U.S. energy security and infrastructure projects, creating a potential 15,000 jobs.

Trump has vowed to make it easier for energy companies to drill on federal land and build pipelines.

"Once Trump came in, we have reactivated some plans," the FT said, citing another source it did not name.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked Indian authorities last month for help in its investigation of Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani over allegations of securities fraud and a $265-million bribery scheme.

In 2023 the conglomerate was accused by U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which disbanded earlier this year, of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation that sparked a $150 billion rout in shares of the group's companies. Adani denied those allegations.

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

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Updates with background, weather office's projections in paragraphs 3-5

NEW DELHI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - India has extended a mandate for imported coal-fired power plants to operate at full capacity until the end of April, a government order seen by Reuters on Friday showed, from an earlier deadline that was set for the end of February.

The extension of the mandate is due to high demand for electricity in the country, the order stated.

India's power ministry said last week that it expects electricity demand to go up to 270 gigawatts (GW) from last year's 250 GW, in the upcoming summer season, usually marked by searing high temperatures and heatwaves in many parts of the country.

The national weather office said earlier in the day that India will have above-average temperatures in March across most regions, following a warmer February.

India has about 17 GW of imported coal power plants operated by companies like Adani Power ADAN.NS, Mundra Power and Essar Power.

(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh, writing by Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by YP Rajesh and David Evans)

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By Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Adani Power has agreed to fully restore supply from a 1,600 MW India power plant to Bangladesh in a few days after a gap of three months but has rejected Dhaka's request for discounts and tax benefits, two sources told Reuters.

Billionaire Gautam Adani's company halved supply to Bangladesh on October 31 due to payment delays as the country battled a foreign exchange shortage. This led to the shutdown of one of the two equal-sized units of the plant on November 1, followed by Bangladesh's request to keep supplying only half the power, citing low winter demand and as the payment issue bubbled.

Ahead of summer demand and on Bangladesh Power Development Board's (BPDB) request, Adani Power has agreed to resume full supplies by next week, said the two sources who had direct knowledge of the matter but declined to be named as they were not authorised to talk to the media. The plant in eastern India sells only to Bangladesh.

Adani Power, however, has not agreed to meet several other demands from BPDB, including giving discounts and concessions potentially worth millions of dollars to Bangladesh, said the sources. The two sides had a virtual meeting on Tuesday and more are likely to carry on the discussions.

"They don't want to give up on anything, even $1 million," said one of the sources, referring to Adani Power. "We have not got any concessions. We want a mutual understanding, they are invoking the power purchase agreement."

BPDB Chairperson Md. Rezaul Karim did not respond to questions about the differences. He told Reuters earlier this week that "now there is no big issue with Adani" and that full power supply was going to begin, while he tried to step up payments beyond $85 million a month.

An Adani Power spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company said in a statement following a Reuters story on Tuesday that "dispatch of power by a power generator is dependent on the procurers' requirements, which keep changing".

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.

BPDB earlier wrote to Adani Power seeking tax benefits worth millions of dollars and resumption of a discount programme that ran for a year until May.

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; editing by David Evans)

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Adds meeting between two sides in 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.

The Indian company halved supply to Bangladesh on October 31 due to payment delays as the country battled a foreign exchange shortage. This led to the shutdown of one unit on November 1, resulting in the plant 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 Md. 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."

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.

An Adani Power spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sonali Paul)

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Jan 29 (Reuters) - Adani Power Ltd ADAN.NS:

• GETS GST DEMAND ORDER FOR 156 MILLION RUPEES, PENALTY OF 156 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE8Crpyr

Further company coverage: ADAN.NS

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Adds quote, details in paragraphs 2-12

By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Sri Lankan government has started talks with India's Adani Group to lower the cost of power from two wind power projects the group will build in the island nation's northern province, the cabinet spokesman said on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka has been reviewing the group's local projects after U.S. authorities in November accused billionaire founder Gautam Adani and other executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts.

Adani has denied the allegations.

"The Sri Lankan government is of the stance that we want a lower price and discussions with Adani have already started," cabinet spokesman and Health and Media Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said.

The government thinks it is possible to bring prices to about $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) or lower, below the earlier proposed price of $0.08, he said.

Adani did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Last week, Adani said that its power purchase deal with the Sri Lankan government was intact after the AFP news agency reported it had been revoked.

Adani said the Sri Lankan cabinet's decision earlier this month to re-evaluate the tariff approved in May was a "standard review process" with a new government and that the group remains committed to investing $1 billion in Sri Lanka's green energy sector.

Under the deal with Sri Lanka, Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS would build two wind power stations with a total investment of $442 million.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka, which has suffered from power blackouts and fuel shortages, has been trying to speed up green power generation to hedge against surges in imported fuel costs.

The U.S. allegations 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.

The Adani Group is also involved in building a $700 million terminal project at Sri Lanka's largest port in Colombo.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Writing by YP Rajesh)

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Adds context on importance of India market for OpenAI in paragraph 3, Open AI comment in paragraph 10, global AI market estimates in paragraph 12

By Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Digital news units of Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, and other outlets including the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, are joining proceedings against OpenAI for improperly using copyright content, legal papers show.

Courts globally are hearing claims by authors, news organisations and musicians who accuse technology firms of using their copyrighted work to train AI services without permission or payment.

India has more than 690 million smartphone users thanks to cheap mobile data plans and OpenAI has said the country is a critical market.

The Indian media outlets, including Adani's NDTV NDTV.NS and Ambani's Network18 NEFI.NS, have told a New Delhi court they want to join an ongoing lawsuit against the ChatGPT creator as they are worried their news websites are being scraped to store and reproduce their work for users of the powerful AI tool.

Reuters was first to report the case filing by the news publishers, which escalates an ongoing legal battle against ChatGPT in India. In the most high-profile battle, local news agency ANI was first to file a lawsuit against OpenAI last year. Global and Indian book publishers have also joined the lawsuit.

The 135-page case filing, which is not public but was reviewed by Reuters, argues OpenAI's conduct constitutes "a clear and present danger to the valuable copyrights" of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) members and other outlets.

It refers to OpenAI's "wilful scraping ... and adaptation of content", adding that "the disproportionate power of tech companies in prioritising content and extracting advertising revenue has raised concerns among publishers."

The filing was made by the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Adani's NDTV and the DNPA, which represents roughly 20 companies including Mukesh Ambani Network18 and players like Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, Zee News, India Today Group and the Hindu. Many of these outlets have a flourishing newspaper and television news business too.

The Times of India is not part of the legal challenge despite being member of the DNPA, the filing said, without elaborating on the reasons.

Asked for comment, OpenAI reiterated an earlier statement that it was engaged in constructive partnerships with many news organisations, including in India, and was using publicly available data in a manner protected by fair use principles to builds its AI models.

None of the Indian media companies involved immediately responded to Reuters request for comment.

The global AI market is expected to grow to $320 billion to $380 billion by 2027, expanding 25% to 35% each year, with the India market likely to follow that trend, according to Boston Consulting Group and India's tech lobby group NASSCOM.

LANDMARK INDIA CASE

In the United States, the New York Times sued OpenAI and its largest financial backer Microsoft MSFT.O in December 2023, accusing them of using millions of its articles without permission to train chatbots to provide information to users.

The new Indian intervention will add firepower to ANI's lawsuit against OpenAI in India's most high-profile legal proceedings on the issue.

A hearing in ANI's lawsuit against OpenAI is scheduled for Tuesday.

Responding to the ANI case, OpenAI said in a court filing reported by Reuters last week that any order to delete training data would result in a violation of its U.S. legal obligations, and Indian judges have no jurisdiction to hear a copyright case against the company as its servers are located abroad.

Reuters, which holds a 26% interest in ANI, has said in a statement it is not involved in ANI's business practices or operations.

In recent months, OpenAI has signed deals with Time magazine, the Financial Times, Business Insider-owner Axel Springer, France's Le Monde and Spain's Prisa Media to display content.

The Indian publishers in their new filing argue OpenAI has entered into partnership agreements with media outlets abroad, but has not entered into similar deals in India, hurting the media companies.

Such conduct by OpenAI "in India betrays an inexplicable defiance of the law," the Indian media outlets' filing said.

The publishers also said OpenAI was set to become a profit-driven business benefiting from the creative works of the media industry. This would result in a "weakened press" and would not be in the best interests of a vibrant democracy, their filing said.

OpenAI made its first India hire last year when it tapped a former WhatsApp executive, Pragya Misra, to handle public policy and partnerships in the country of 1.4 billion people.

"India is really important because it's the youngest demographic in the world ... we've seen massive uptake of ChatGPT, it's almost our second largest country in terms of users outside of the US," Misra said in a recent interview with AIM TV.

OpenAI kicked off an investment, consumer and corporate frenzy in generative AI after the Nov. 2022 launch of ChatGPT. It wants to be ahead in the AI race after raising $6.6 billion last year.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi; Additional reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Editing by Sonali Paul and Kate Mayberry)

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** Adani Power ADAN.NS rises 3.8% to 518 rupees

** India's top court agrees to review thermal power producer's appeal against Punjab electricity regulator PSERC's refusal to approve a 2006 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) - media reports

** The 2006 PPA was between Udupi Power Corp (now Adani Power) and Punjab State Power Corp for supply of 101.5 MW of power

** PSERC rejected PPA, citing lack of long-term need, higher costs than cheaper options in market

** Adani Power did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment

** Stock set to snap five-day losing streak

** ADAN ended 2024 0.8% higher, its smallest annual gain since listing in August 2009

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru)

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Jan 1 (Reuters) - Power Mech Projects Ltd POMP.NS:

• POWER MECH PROJECTS LTD - SECURES 2.94 BILLION RUPEES ORDER FROM ADANI POWER

Source text: ID:nBSEQyKj4

Further company coverage: POMP.NS

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Adds detail, background from paragraph 2

Dec 27 (Reuters) - India on Friday extended its mandate for imported coal-based power plants to operate at full capacity until Feb. 28, a government circular showed.

In October, the government had invoked an emergency clause to direct companies including Tata Power TTPW.NS, Adani Power ADAN.NS and Vedanta VDAN.NS, to operate their imported coal fired plants till Oct. 15 and had further extended the mandate till Dec. 31.

Imported coal-based power plants in India have a combined annual capacity of nearly 16 gigawatts.

India's coal-fired power output had fallen for a second straight month in September due to slower growth in electricity use and a surge in solar generation.

The country's imports of thermal coal plunged 31.8%, its fastest rate of contraction in fifteen months, in October, Reuters had reported earlier.

India's overall coal-based power generation over April-September rose by 5% from a year earlier, government data shows.

(Reporting by Manvi Pant and Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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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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Refile to remove snap language

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.

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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By Sarita Chaganti Singh and Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - An Indian government agency charged with promoting renewable energy has changed the way it issues power tenders to reduce the risk of corruption after U.S. allegations of bribery in some tenders, said an official with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) earns commission for linking renewable energy producers with buyers. It was an intermediary in solar power deals involving Adani Group and several states where U.S. authorities have said bribes were paid to unidentified officials between 2021 and 2022.

The ports-to-power Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them baseless.

U.S. authorities have not accused SECI of any wrongdoing.

SECI, which selects renewable energy producers for projects through bids and then signs deals with power buyers, said last month it had "no basis so far" to investigate the allegations and that it was "not clear if any of SECI's covenants have been violated".

About 75% of SECI's new bids for renewable power will now be based on specific demand from states instead of the earlier practice of mainly seeking power suppliers first through tenders and then approaching buyers, said the SECI official, who did not want to be named, citing the sensitivity of the matter.

A spokesperson for SECI did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours on Monday.

The official said the earlier practice, which used to account for about 90% of the bids, had raised the risk of corruption by power producers seeking to influence buyers in states to sign up to deals even if they did not need the power. The official did not name any companies or give any examples.

The source said SECI had not found any reason to independently investigate any deals it had been part of and that no agency within India or outside had reached out to it.

The allegations against the Adani Group, nevertheless, could temporarily cut foreign investments in India's renewable sector, said the source, adding that SECI expected tendering to slow down for the rest of the fiscal year that ends on March 31.

SECI's target for this fiscal year was to find bidders for 15 gigawatts (GW) of power, but it has managed only about 6-7 GW so far.

India is still more than 10% short of its pledge to add 175 GW of renewable power by 2022. It wants to reach 500 GW by 2030.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Mark Potter)

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Dec 10 (Reuters) -

• ADANI SEEKS FRESH LIFELINE FOR TROUBLED EAST INDIA POWER PLANT - BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/288457sg

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Dec 9 (Reuters) - Indian conglomerate Adani Group will invest over 7.5 trillion rupees ($88.53 billion) in various sectors like renewable energy and cement in the northern state of Rajasthan, Karan Adani, managing director of Adani Ports APSE.NSm, said on Monday at an investment summit.

($1 = 84.7200 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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Adds details, background

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Several entities linked to the Adani Group have approached the India markets regulator seeking to settle a case that accuses them of violating public shareholding regulations at some listed companies, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.

The Securities and Exchange Board Of India (SEBI) had sent notices to Adani Enterprises ADEL.NS, the group's flagship company, as well as Adani Power ADAN.NS, Adani Ports APSE.NS and Adani Energy ADAI.NS alleging they had wrongfully categorised the shareholding of certain entities.

The groups' breaches of a minimum public shareholding requirement date back to 2020 and the SEBI had sought to recover about 25 billion rupees ($295 million) from the entities, ET said.

Adani Enterprises and one of its directors, Vinay Prakash, as well as an Ambuja Cements ABUJ.NS director, Ameet Desai, have proposed a settlement, ET reported.

Another proposal for a 2.8-million-rupees ($33,035) settlement is from Emerging India Focus Funds (EIFF), a Mauritius-based foreign portfolio investor that the SEBI says is linked to Vinod Adani, brother of Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, ET said.

The report did not have information regarding other settlement applications.

The proposals were submitted last week in response to a show-cause notice issued by the SEBI on Sept. 27 to about 30 Adani Group entities, the newspaper reported.

The entities have contested the charges in response to the notice and the settlement application is only a precautionary measure, ET added, citing a source.

The Adani Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Last month, U.S. authorities accused Gautam Adani and some top executives in the Adani Group of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts and of misleading U.S. investors during fund raises there, charges the group has called "baseless".

($1 = 84.7580 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu and Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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By Krishna N. Das

DHAKA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Bangladesh has halved the power it buys from neighbouring India's Adani Power, citing lower winter demand, government officials told Reuters on Monday, amid disagreements over dues running into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Adani, whose founder has been accused by U.S. authorities of being involved in a bribery scheme in India, charges which he has denied, halved supply to Bangladesh on Oct. 31 over payment delays as the country battles a foreign exchange shortage.

Subsequently Bangladesh told Adani to keep supplying only half the power for now, officials said, although it will keep paying its old dues.

"We were shocked and angry when they cut our supply," said Md. Rezaul Karim, chairperson of the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). "Winter demand is now down, so we have told them there is no need to run both units of the plant."

Adani has been supplying power under a 25-year contract signed in 2017 under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, from a $2-billion power plant in India's eastern state of Jharkhand that has two units, each with capacity of about 800 megawatts.

A document seen by Reuters showed the plant ran at only 41.82% capacity in November, the lowest this year, with one unit shut since Nov. 1.

Two BPDB sources said Bangladesh had bought about 1,000 MW a month from Adani last winter, adding that Adani had asked the board when it would resume normal purchases, but had not received a definitive answer.

An Adani Power spokesperson said the firm was continuing supply to Bangladesh, although mounting dues were a significant concern, making plant operations unsustainable.

"We are in constant dialogue with senior officials of BPDB and the government, who have assured us that our dues will be cleared soon," said the spokesperson.

The firm was confident Bangladesh would fulfil its commitments, just as Adani had upheld its contract obligations, he added.

Karim said Bangladesh owed Adani about $650 million, and paid about $85 million last month and $97 million in October.

An Adani Power source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the dues had jumped to about $900 million, hurting its debt profile and risking a higher cost of funds.

Bangladesh wants to sharply lower prices under the Adani deal, unless it is cancelled by a court, which has called for an investigation into it, the de facto minister for power and energy told Reuters on Sunday.

The Adani Power spokesperson said the firm had no indication that Bangladesh was reviewing its power purchase pact.

Adani charges the highest rate of all Indian suppliers to Bangladesh, a government document seen by Reuters showed.

Its cost per unit was 14.87 taka during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 2024, compared with an average of 9.57 for all Indian suppliers.

The retail price in Bangladesh is 8.95 taka a unit, leading to an annual power subsidy bill of 320 billion taka ($2.7 billion).

"Because the prices are high, the government has to subsidise," said Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Bangladesh's power and energy adviser. "We would like power prices, not only from Adani, to come down below the average retail prices."

($1=119.0000 taka)

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in Dhaka; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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By Krishna N. Das

DHAKA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Bangladesh wants to sharply lower prices under a power purchase deal with India's embattled Adani Group unless it is cancelled by a court, which has called for an investigation into the 25-year deal, its de facto energy minister told Reuters on Sunday.

Adani Group founder Gautam Adani is already facing allegations by U.S. authorities that he was part of a $265 million bribery scheme in India, charges he has denied, even as one Indian state reviews a power deal with the group and France's TotalEnergies TTEF.PA pauses its investments.

In Bangladesh, based on an appeal by a lawyer demanding the power deal's potential cancellation, the High Court last week ordered a committee of experts to examine the contract under which Adani supplies power from a $2 billion coal-fired plant in eastern India. The investigation is expected to be concluded by February, when the court is due to make its order.

The deal was signed in 2017 by Adani and a government entity under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted this year amid a popular uprising and accusations of widespread corruption. Supply from the 1,600 megawatt plant, which uses expensive imported coal, started last year and meets about a tenth of Bangladesh's consumption.

"Renegotiate in case of anomalies in the contract. Cancel only in case of irregularities such as corruption and bribery," Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Bangladesh's power and energy adviser, said in an interview in his office.

"Both based on the findings of the court-ordered investigations."

He said some issues, such as Bangladesh not benefiting from some Indian tax exemptions to the power plant, have already been flagged to Adani and could partly form the basis of a deal renegotiation.

Adani did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the weekend. Adani Power Ltd ADAN.NS said in its latest annual report that the plant in India's Jharkhand state would provide Bangladesh uninterrupted, reliable and affordable electricity and "significantly reduce the average cost" for the end consumer.

Khan said the U.S. corruption allegations against Adani themselves may not have any bearing on the Bangladeshi deal.

A separate committee formed by Bangladesh's interim government is already probing the Adani deal and six other power contracts with the aim to ensure the investigations "will be acceptable in international negotiations and arbitration", said a government statement.

At 14.02 taka a unit, Adani charged the highest rate for Indian-generated power to Bangladesh in the 2022/23 fiscal year, compared with an average price of 8.77 taka ($0.0737), according to the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Adani's rate fell to 12 taka a unit in 2023/24, still 27% higher than the rate of India's other private producers and as much as 63% more than Indian state-owned plants, Reuters has reported.

The retail price in Bangladesh is 8.95 taka per unit, which results in an annual power subsidy bill of 320 billion taka for the exchequer, Khan said.

"Because the prices are high, the government has to subsidise," Khan said. "We would like power prices, not only from Adani, to come down below the average retail prices."

Bangladesh, however, will keep paying for the power it is importing from Adani, he said. The company had recently halved its supply because of a delay in payment.

Khan said Bangladesh has enough domestic capacity to meet its needs, though some plants are currently idle or generating below capacity because of a shortage of gas or other reasons.

"When Adani cut their supply to half, nothing happened," he said. "We will not allow any power producer to blackmail us."

($1 = 119.0000 taka)

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in Dhaka; Additional reporting by Maksud Un Nabi; editing by David Evans)

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NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The lower house of India's parliament was suspended temporarily on Friday for a fourth day in a row this week following disruptions as opposition lawmakers sought a discussion on the allegations against Adani Group.

U.S. authorities last week accused Group Chairman Gautam Adani and seven others from the company of being part of a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials, and of misleading U.S. investors while raising funds there.

The ports-to-power conglomerate has termed the allegations "baseless" and said it would seek "all possible legal recourse".

(Reporting by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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Updates share price, Indian parliament, background; paragraphs 4,7, 11-12

Nov 28 (Reuters) - International Holding Co's (IHC) IHC.AD outlook on investments in India's Adani Group remains unchanged, the Abu Dhabi conglomerate said following the U.S. indictment of billionaire Gautam Adani, while the company's shares rose strongly for a second day on Thursday.

"Our partnership with the Adani Group reflects our confidence in their contributions to the green energy and sustainability sectors," IHC, one of the Indian business group's key foreign investors, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"As with all our investments, our team continues to evaluate relevant information and developments. At this time, our outlook on these investments remains unchanged."

Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS shares rose 10% on Thursday, hitting the cap set on gains in the stock in a single session for the second consecutive day.

Adani Energy Solutions ADAI.NS was also up the maximum 10% while Adani Total Gas ADAG.NS, which has a cap of 20%, gained about 15%.

The Adani group's stock losses have narrowed to $12.5 billion from about $34 billion, the low reached on Tuesday, following the U.S. indictments levelled last week.

Both houses of India's parliament were suspended temporarily within minutes of opening on Thursday as opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings for the third day this week demanding a discussion on the allegations against the Adani Group, one of the biggest conglomerates in the country.

Last week, U.S. authorities accused Adani, his nephew and executive director Sagar Adani and the managing director of Adani Green ADNA.NS, Vneet S. Jaain, of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts.

Five other Adani associates were charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. anti-bribery law, and four were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice.

The ports-to-power conglomerate denied the charges as "baseless" and vowed to seek "all possible legal recourse".

The government has not commented on the allegations against the group.

Many of India's opposition parties accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party of favouring Gautam Adani and blocking investigations against him in India, charges both have denied.

REPERCUSSIONS MOUNT

In October last year, IHC boosted its stake in Adani Enterprises ADEL.NS to more than 5% after it sold down its investments in two other Adani companies. At the time, IHC said Adani Enterprises, the group's flagship company, was "uniquely poised to capitalise on India's robust growth journey".

The increased investment came after short seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate in January last year of stock manipulation and significantly high debt levels. Adani Group denied those allegations.

Adani Green, the company at the centre of the indictment, said on Wednesday Gautam Adani had been charged in the United States for alleged violations of securities law and faced potential fines but had not been charged under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In a stock exchange filing, Adani Green said a complaint by U.S. regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought "an order directing the defendants to pay civil monetary penalties (but) it does not quantify the amount of penalty".

The civil action launched by the SEC runs in parallel to U.S. federal prosecutors' indictment against Adani and others.

Repercussions from the U.S. indictments are starting to mount for the Adani Group with ratings agencies cutting some ratings and placing some of the company's bonds on a negative outlook.

French oil major TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, said on Monday it would not make any more investments in the Adani Group until there was clarity over the allegations and consequences. Total has a 20% stake in Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS and the Adani firm said there were no discussions on new investments underway.

Kenya has scrapped a $2 billion procurement project that was to give Adani control of the country's main airport and it shelved a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership, signed by Adani Energy Solutions ADAI.NS, with its energy ministry in October.

Bangladesh is investigating power generation contracts signed under the previous prime minister, one of which was with Adani Power.

Sri Lanka said it would investigate all of the Adani-related projects in the island nation.

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh in Dubai, Chris Thomas in Bangalore, Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai and Nigam Prusty in New Delhi; Writing by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Y.P. Rajesh, Sumeet Chatterjee, Clarence Fernandez and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Adds details on ratings agency cuts, Andhra Pradesh plans in paragraphs 4-6

Nov 27 (Reuters) - Some nations and investors have either scrapped deals or halted investments in the Adani Group, after the United States indicted its billionaire chairman Gautam Adani for alleged bribery and fraud to win contracts for a group company, Adani Green Energy.

Adani Group has denied all the accusations as "baseless", but its 10 listed entities have lost about $33 billion in market value since the indictment, with Adani Green the hardest hit, losing about $9.7 billion in market value.

Here are key details of the conglomerate's stalled deals and other fallout:

** Ratings agency Moody's cut the outlook on the ratings of seven Adani entities to 'negative' from 'stable,' citing the U.S. indictment of Chairman Gautam Adani and others could weaken the group's access to funding and increase its capital costs.

Meanwhile, Fitch earlier put some Adani Group bonds on watch for a possible downgrade, also citing the U.S. indictment.

** India's Andhra Pradesh state is likely to suspend a power purchase deal linked to Adani Group due to the U.S. indictment, two state government sources told Reuters. The southern state will also ask the federal government and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which awards power supply contracts to companies like Adani, to investigate the charges.

** French oil major TotalEnergies TTEF.PA will not make any more investments in the Adani Group. Total has a 20% stake in Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS, putting its financial exposure in Adani firms at between $4 billion and $5 billion, Bernstein Research estimates.

** The U.S. International Development Finance Corp is reviewing the impact of the indictment against Gautam Adani on the agency's plan to lend $550 million for a port development project in Sri Lanka partly owned by Adani Group. Last November, the agency said it would provide financing for the port terminal project in the key city of Colombo.

** Sri Lanka is studying the accusations against Adani Group and will consider all aspects of its projects in the island nation. The government is taking the concerns seriously but has made no final decision yet.

** Kenya has canceled a procurement process of more than $2 billion that was expected to give control of its main airport to the Adani Group. The deal was to add a second runway at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport and upgrade the passenger terminal. Kenya also scrapped a separate 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership, signed by Adani Energy Solutions ADAI.NS with its energy ministry in October.

** Bangladesh has set up a committee to investigate its power generation contracts signed during the tenure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, one of them with Adani Power ADAN.NS.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Louise Heavens)

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Adds background, details in paragraphs 3, 4, 8

By Sarita Chaganti Singh and Aftab Ahmed

NEW DELHI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - India's Andhra Pradesh state is likely to suspend a power purchase deal linked to Adani Group due to the U.S. indictment of the group's billionaire founder Gautam Adani over an alleged bribery scheme, two state government sources said.

The southern state will ask the federal government and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which awards power supply contracts to companies like Adani, to investigate the charges, the sources said.

The suspension, likely to be announced soon, would be the first such action by an Indian state government after U.S. prosecutors charged Gautam Adani and seven others with agreeing to pay bribes of $265 million to unidentified Indian government officials to obtain solar power-supply contracts.

Most of the alleged bribes - $228 million - were paid to a government official to get Andhra Pradesh's state electricity distribution companies to agree to purchase power, the U.S. indictment said. Adani has said the allegations are baseless

Andhra Pradesh is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's key ally Chandrababu Naidu, whose party has the second highest number of parliamentary seats in the coalition government formed after the main Bharatiya Janata Party failed to get a majority in national elections concluded in June.

Modi's federal government has so far not commented on the U.S. indictment of Adani.

The power supply to Andhra Pradesh under the SECI agreement was scheduled to start from next year, according to one of the sources.

"The decision will be taken very soon," the second source said about the planned suspension.

Clauses in the power supply agreements provide for Indian states to terminate contracts and also bar the companies involved from any future bidding if the bidder has committed a serious transgression.

Adani Group and the Andhra Pradesh government did not immediately reply to Reuters requests for comment.

Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday that Andhra Pradesh was exploring the possibility of cancelling a power supply contract linked to Adani Group.

Andhra Pradesh's previous ruling party - YSR Congress Party - under whose administration the alleged misconduct took place, last week denied any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh Aftab Ahmed. Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)

Adds Adani Green Energy share price graphic

By YP Rajesh and America Hernandez

NEW DELHI/PARIS, Nov 25 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies TTEF.PA halted on Monday investments into Adani Group, after the Indian ports-to-power conglomerate was engulfed in a crisis over an alleged multi-million-dollar bribery scheme.

The move is the first major fallout from U.S. authorities' decision to charge Adani's billionaire chairman Gautam Adani and seven other people with agreeing to pay around $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials.

TotalEnergies, whose financial exposure to Adani firms is estimated at between $4 billion and $5 billion by analysts at Bernstein Research, said it had not been made aware of the investigation into the alleged corruption scheme.

While TotalEnergies' plans for future investment in Adani Group firms were not known, the announcement of a pause adds to the criticism the $143-billion Indian conglomerate is facing about disclosure standards, which may lead to closer scrutiny by other investors.

"Until such time when the accusations against the Adani group individuals and their consequences have been clarified, TotalEnergies will not make any new financial contribution as part of its investments in the Adani group of companies," the French company said.

TotalEnergies, which has a 20% stake and a seat on the board of the company at the centre of the case, Adani Green Energy Ltd ADNA.NS, said it rejects corruption in any form.

The U.S. prosecutors' bribery charges related to alleged payments to obtain contracts that could yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years. The charges also included making misleading statements to the public despite being made aware of the U.S. investigation in 2023.

The Adani Group has said the accusations as well as those levelled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case are baseless and that it will seek "all possible legal recourse".

Adani did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TotalEnergies' statement.

Shares of Adani Green Energy plunged more than 11% on Monday after the TotalEnergies statement before recovering to close 7.9% lower, while Adani Total Gas ADAG.NS, in which the French company owns a 37.4% stake, ended down 1.4%.

India's parliament was suspended on Monday after disruption by lawmakers demanding a discussion on the allegations while the crisis continued to hurt the group founded by Adani, 62, one of the world's richest people.

On Sunday, a U.S. development agency said it was reviewing the impact of the bribery allegations on its agreement to lend more than $550 million to a Sri Lankan port development backed by the Adani group.

The agency said that no funds have yet been disbursed under the loan commitment.

PARLIAMENT DISRUPTED

The Adani group's projects and businesses span the globe and some of them have come under the spotlight since the indictment in the U.S.

Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto cancelled a procurement process that had been expected to award control of the country's main airport to Adani.

In Bangladesh, a panel examining power generation contracts, including one with Adani Power ADAN.NS, urged the interim government to hire a global legal firm to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation into previous deals.

In India, opposition parties, who have consistently targeted Adani for what they say is his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, disrupted both houses of parliament seeking a discussion on the Adani allegations.

"The first step the government should take is to have a detailed discussion on the Adani saga which has the potential of tarnishing India’s image at the global stage," Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Congress party, posted on X.

Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Vice President of India and the chairman of the upper house, said he had received 13 notices from lawmakers demanding a discussion on the Adani issue but he could not allow them as they did not conform to the rules.

Dhankhar suspended the chamber for the day as lawmakers insisted on their demand, with similar scenes playing out in the lower house.

Indian opposition parties have in the past accused Modi's government of protecting Gautam Adani and his businesses, charges both deny.

Modi’s opponents say he has longstanding ties with Adani, going back nearly two decades to when Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, from where Adani also comes.

They accuse the government of favouring the group in business deals, charges the government has rejected as "wild allegations".

The government has not commented on the indictment but Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that it is for the Adani Group to deal with and defend itself and that the law will take its course.

MIXED DAY FOR ADANI STOCKS

Outside parliament, dozens of members and supporters of the youth wing of Congress marched in protest, carrying placards demanding Adani's arrest and shouting slogans linking him to Modi.

The crisis is the second in two years to hit the Adani group, which was last year accused by short seller Hindenburg Research of improperly using offshore tax havens. The company denied those claims.

The disruption in parliament came as investors cut their exposure to the conglomerate, depressing Adani dollar bond prices.

In Asian trade on Monday, some of the most liquid debts, issued by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone APSE.NS fell between 1 cent and 2 cents, with similar selling in Adani Transmission debt.

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris, Tom Westbrook and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and YP Rajesh in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Sethuraman NR, Sudipto Ganguly, Indranil Sarkar, Anushree Fadnavis, Tassilo Hummel, Makini Brice and Dominique Patton; Writing by Scott Murdoch, YP Rajesh and Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Lincoln Feast and Toby Chopra)

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Nov 22 (Reuters) - Adani Group companies' shares fell for a second straight day on Friday after U.S. prosecutors charged the Indian conglomerate's billionaire chairman in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Gautam Adani's flagship Adani Enterprises ADEL.NS fell 4% to hit their lowest since May 2023.

Adani Ports APSE.NS, Adani Total Gas ADAG.NS, Adani Green ADNA.NS, Adani Power ADAN.NS, Adani Wilmar ADAW.NS and Adani Energy Solutions ADAI.NS fell between 3% and 10%.

ACC ACC.NS was down 0.5%, while Ambuja Cements ABUJ.NS and NDTV NDTV.NS rose about 1% each.

On Thursday, about $27 billion was wiped off the market value of Adani Group companies, while Kenya's president canceled a massive airport project with the group, in the aftermath of the indictments.

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Updates with statement from Azure Power in paragraphs 10-11

By Kashish Tandon and Hritam Mukherjee

Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have charged Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, founder of a conglomerate named after him, and seven others in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme related to a renewable energy project in India.

The authorities said Adani and the other defendants agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to obtain contracts. The Adani Group denied the charges as baseless and that it would seek "all possible legal recourse".

Here are key details of the people charged by the U.S. authorities:

** Gautam Adani, 62, is Asia's wealthiest person after countryman Mukesh Ambani with a net worth of $57.8 billion, according to Forbes. He set up the Adani Group in 1988, beginning with commodities trading.

He and his nephew Sagar are accused of orchestrating the scheme to secure a solar energy project in India and misleading the company's investors during a $750 million bond offering, which raised about $175 million from U.S. investors.

** Sagar Adani is credited with building the solar and wind portfolio of Adani Green Energy ADNA.NS and currently oversees its "organization building as well as all strategic and financial matters", according to its website. He is an executive director of Adani Green.

** Vneet Jaain has been the managing director of Adani Green Energy since 2020. Before that, he headed other Adani group firms such as Adani Power ADAN.NS and Adani Infrastructure, according to his LinkedIn profile.

** Ranjit Gupta, between 2019 and 2022, was the chief executive officer of energy firm Azure Power Global, whose stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange until November 2023.

U.S. authorities allege that Gupta conspired with Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain to pay bribes to Indian government officials for Adani Green and Azure Power to secure a solar energy project in India.

Azure Power told Reuters in an emailed statement that it was "aware of the actions" announced by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission against its former employees.

"We have been cooperating with those agencies in relation to those and other matters and we will continue to do so," the firm said.

Gupta, currently CEO of energy firm Ocior Energy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ocior Energy did not immediately respond to a separate Reuters request for comment.

** Cyril Cabanes, who U.S. court documents said was a citizen of Australia and France who resided in Singapore, was the managing director of infrastructure overseeing Asia Pacific and Middle East regions at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a Canadian investment firm, between 2016 and 2023.

The indictment document said that an unnamed unit of CDPQ is the top stakeholder of Azure Power.

Cabanes, his then-CDPQ colleagues Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, and Rupesh Agarwal are accused of joining the conspiracy between 2021 and 2022.

Cabanes did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

** Saurabh Agarwal worked with a company associated CDPQ from May 2017 until July 2023, when he reported to Cabanes.

CDPQ on Thursday said it was aware of the charges against its former employees. "Those employees were all terminated in 2023 and CDPQ is cooperating with the U.S. authorities," it said.

Reuters could not immediately reach Agarwal for comment.

** Deepak Malhotra was Director of infrastructure, South Asia, at CDPQ when he joined the board of Azure Power in 2019. He resigned from the board in 2023, along with Cabanes.

Reuters could not immediately reach Malhotra for comment.

** Rupesh Agarwal is currently a co-chair at Indian industry lobby group FICCI Renewable Energy CEO Council. From July 2022 to August 2022, the period mentioned in the indictment document, he was the Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer at Azure.

Reuters could not immediately reach Agarwal for comment.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon, Hritam Mukherjee and Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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