On Friday, the fortune of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani was reduced by more than $20 billion (£16 billion) after investors abandoned his enterprises for a second day in response to fraud allegations filed by a US investment firm.
The Adani Group has denounced the allegations as malicious, but the reaction has done nothing to quell the outrage.
The principal opposition party in India has urged an investigation.
The firm’s publicly listed companies have lost nearly $50bn in market value.
Shares of the company’s flagship company, Adani Enterprises, fell about 20 percent on Friday, while several of the group’s other publicly traded companies fell even lower, forcing trading halts in Mumbai.
Forbes reports that Mr. Adani has fallen from third to seventh place on its list of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Although maintains an estimated net worth of more than $96 billion.
Asia’s richest man faces fraud allegations
The backlash comes days after Hindenburg Research, a firm that specializes in “short-selling,” or betting against a company’s share price with the assumption that it will collapse, published a study accusing the Adani Group of decades of “brazen” stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
Its analysis preceded Adani Enterprises’ planned share sale, for which there is presently little interest.
Mr. Adani is a self-made billionaire who invested in ports, airports, renewable energy, and other industries. His fortune has surged in the past three years, as the value of shares in his enterprises exploded.
His firm stated it was exploring legal action against Hindenburg.
Mr. Adani, an ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has long been accused by opposition lawmakers of profiting from his political links, which he denies.
Numerous Indian banks and state-owned insurance companies have invested or lent billions of dollars to Adani Group-affiliated companies.
Reuters said that India’s main public sector banks were indifferent about firm risks.
However, the episode helped drive India’s benchmark Nifty 50 stock index down more than 1% on Friday.
