Adani auditor facing inquiry by India’s accounting regulator - report

One of the Adani Group’s long-time auditors is reportedly being scrutinised by India’s accounting regulator.

According to Bloomberg, the National Financial Reporting Authority, or NFRA, has in recent weeks started an inquiry into one of the member firms of EY in India, SR Batliboi.

It was understood that the regulator has requested files and communications related to its audits on some of the companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani going as far back as 2014.

Bloomberg said it was unclear how long the NFRA’s inquiry may take or what repercussions, if any, may be faced by the auditor and Adani’s companies.

Bloomberg said the scrutiny of SR Batliboi - statutory auditor of five listed Adani companies that produce about half of the group’s revenues - underscores the lingering questions around accounting and disclosures by Adani, which faced a brutal short-seller attack in January.

Adani is also under a court-mandated probe by India’s markets regulator.

Besides being the current auditors for Adani Power Ltd., Adani Green Energy Ltd., the consumer goods firm Adani Wilmar Ltd. and the two cement makers the tycoon acquired from Holcim Ltd. last year, SR Batliboi also signed off on the books of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., for a decade leading to 2017.