A star has been sighted in the west and in the Indian version of an immaculate conception it is already working a miracle for at least one of the faithful.
While political pundits believe that Narendra Modi’s rise from Gujarat politics to the national stage has been meteoric, Gautam Adani, the businessman said to be “very, very close” to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has seen the value of his stock holdings jump from about Rs 6 crore in 2001 to Rs 84,000 crore in 2014 (see graphic), despite most of his major companies having recorded huge losses in recent times.Modi took over in Gujarat in October 2001 and at that time Adani was already a successful businessman.
But his growth in the years since has been exponential.
Adani’s personal worth has jumped from Rs 40,000 crore to Rs 84,000 crore in the period since September 2013, when the BJP anointed Modi as its candidate for the country’s top job. But this mammoth change in fortunes appears to have no connection with the performance of his companies and seems based entirely on two prevalent perceptions in the stock market, one, that Modi will be the next Prime Minister, and two, that Adani will be a beneficiary of his largesse, perhaps the biggest.
Consider the financial performance of the group in the recent past: Adani Enterprises, the most valuable company in the group,reported a net loss of Rs 280 crore in the first nine months of financial year 2013-14,based on results announced so far. The company had a net profit of Rs 520 crore last year. But curiously,while the company has moved from a huge profit to a huge loss, its wealth has more than trebled, with an accretion of more than Rs 30,000 crore.
Now look at Adani Power.
The company has so far this year (in nine months) announced a net loss of Rs 2254 crore.
It had made a loss of Rs 1952 crore last year. Given these trends it should report a loss of nearly Rs 3000 crore this year. But, market pundits seem to have ignored this hard fact and have instead added over Rs 7,500 crore to the company’s value and made Adani richer by over Rs 5,000 crore in just the last six months. Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd., the third jewel in the crown, has a similar tale to tell. While its financial performance has not shown any improvement, its market value has jumped more than 50 per cent to Rs 40,000 crore the past six months, adding over Rs 12,000 crore to Mr. Adani’s wealth.
Why are savvy investors, including many from overseas, willing to pay such high prices for Adani stocks even when the companies are doing badly? The answer lies in the belief that Modi’s anointment as PM will result in a huge windfall to the group and its promoter.It is for this reason that many of Modi’s political opponents including Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal have levelled serious allegations about his cosy relationship with the Adani group.
The allegations about concessions received by the Adani group include allotment of land at throwaway prices and purchase of power at inflated rates. In fairness to Adani, it must be said that he is not the only businessman to seek cosy relationships with powerful politicians, nor Modi the only politician to seek out cronies. Whether it is the Jaypee group of J P Gaur,who was close to BSP leader Mayawati, the GMR group of G M Rao said to be close to Sonia Gandhi, the Sun group of the Marans blessed by the DMK or the Reddy brothers of Bellary who thrived under B S Yeddyurappa, crony capitalism has become a part of India’s fabric.