By Ranjona Banerji
There is only one story in India right now.
And that is the continuing fall in the Adani Group’s worth in the world’s markets.
I knew you thought I was going to say the “Union Budget”. But I was there at the Cricket Club Of India (CCI), post-economic liberalisation, when the legendary Nani Pakhiwala said he was no longer going to interpret the Budget because India was leaving the old regime behind. I know many of you were not born then, but it still happened.
So no, the Union Finance Minister’s boring take-you-for-a-ride speech is not the biggest news. Even if The Times of India got four BJP supporters on the payroll, and one edit writer (no comment) to tell us what a great it this was. (Quick tip: Check that salary slab change in the light of no exemptions before you celebrate.)
Anyway. There’s this Times of India story which tells you what’s happening in the markets and with “investor confidence”:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/gautam-adani-stock-rout-continues-as-loan-talks-fail-to-ease-concerns/articleshow/97568557.cms?from=mdr
It has words like “brutal” and rout”. And much as the mainstream media tried, it could not stem the tide.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/adanis-108-billion-crisis-shakes-investors-faith-in-india/articleshow/97566730.cms
O dear. $108 billion crisis says The Economic Times. Did they waste precious economic “real estate” with some massive superhero graphic across the front page like they used to? I really can’t be bothered to check.
https://www.businesstoday.in/markets/stocks/story/adani-enterprises-shares-hit-15-lower-circuit-on-dow-exclusion-other-adani-group-stocks-bleed-368767-2023-02-03
Business Today says Adani stocks are bleeding. Even if last year India Today, the gold standard of Indian journalism, called Adani the “growth king”.
This is also India Today:
https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/adani-group-gautam-adani-market-rout-shares-dow-jones-sebi-nse-hindenburg-report-top-developments-2329883-2023-02-03
Do you think someone at the webdesk has put her or his job in jeopardy?
And here’s Time Magazine, entering the fray:
https://time.com/6251935/gautam-adani-group-india-hindenburg/?linkId=199508761
More seriously, the implications for India are terrible. The ruling dispensation has invested a lot of our money – public money – in Adani and also handed over large chunks of infrastructure growth to the group. How will we recover from this massive fall? It can only be contained with even more or our money being gifted to the group.
The little Rs 7 lakh no tax regime pales into insignificance when compared to what faces us.
That not one retail investor trusted Adani’s FPO speaks more volumes than all Modi ji’s speeches and the collective yelling of our TV anchors.
Speaking of which, one of those geniuses at Times Now wants India to ban the BBC because of that documentary. Sadly for him, I forget his name – initials are RSS – the British government has decided to stand by the BBC. In spite of tens of Indian origin British citizens wandering outside the BBC office in the freezing cold protesting against the BBC. Life is so unfair. Even worse, former UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s brother JoJo has quit Elara, some bank that funded the Adani Group. And was mentioned in the Hindenburg Research report on fraud by Adani.
BJP and Modi Bhakts are even funnier. Chatter on social media now demands a class action suit against the “whole West” for being anti-India. From the BBC to Hindenburg Research. Which court, any idea?
Scroll.in has done a good recap here:
https://scroll.in/article/1043147/big-picture-how-the-adani-crash-unfolded-and-what-it-could-do-to-the-indian-economy
Cynics ask how long before we have some publicity shots of Modi ji with an ambulance or the inauguration of a highway or some other distractionary nonsense. It’s not that unlikely, given the past record.
But for yourself, and for ourselves as journalists, let’s mark what’s left of our democracy in this report from The Economist:
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/02/01/the-worlds-most-and-least-democratic-countries-in-2022?utm_content=article-link-3&etear=nl_today_3&utm_campaign=a.the-economist-today&utm_medium=email.internal-newsletter.np&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=2/1/2023&utm_id=1471067
Not much.
One of the reasons is because we in the media have not tracked what mattered.
That’s it.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal