Public sector general insurance companies like New India, United India, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and General Insurance Corporation Re have Rs 348-crore exposure in Adani Group companies, Finance Ministry told Parliament in a reply on Monday. This represents 0.14% of their total assets under management (AUM), said the ministry.
Financial institutions like Exim Bank, SIDBI, NHB, National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) and NABARD can’t divulge information under their acts, the ministry added.
The finance ministry's information comes at a time when state-owned Life Insurance Corporation came under scrutiny for its Rs 36,000-crore expsoure in Adani Group companies.
LIC's exposure in the Adani Group is 0.975% of LIC's total AUM, the ministry said.
The upheaval in the conglomerate, triggered by a short-seller's report last month, continued on Monday with shares in its listed companies extending their losses. The state-owned insurer will take a view on its existing Adani investments in one to three years, and does not plan to take any action on them now, said Chairman M R Kumar last week.
Led by billionaire Gautam Adani, the group's seven listed stocks have lost more than $100 billion in market value since a January 24 report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation, allegations the company has strongly denied.
The fallout has sparked worries of financial contagion, protests in parliament where Opposition parties have demanded an investigation, ratings outlook downgrades of some Adani units and have cast a shadow on the company's capital raising plans.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has been probing the group's market rout, including examining trade patterns and any potential irregularities in the $2.5 billion share sale of flagship company Adani Enterprises that Adani group was forced to cancel due to the stock's plunge.
The SEBI board will update finance ministry officials on its investigation on February 15, Reuters reported quoting sources.
Last week, Moody's downgraded the ratings outlook for some Adani group companies, while index provider MSCI said it would cut the weightings of some in its stock indexes.