Morgan Stanley Capital International will drop two Adani Group stocks from its India gauge, the global stock index compiler said on Thursday in its quarterly review. Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas will be excluded from the MSCI’s India Domestic Index on May 31.
Foreign investors use the index to pump in money into Indian equities and it serves an indicator of stability in the markets.
The development will likely trigger heavy outflow of investments from the two stocks, experts told Bloomberg. All Adani Group stocks have already been facing a rout since the United States-based investment firm Hindenburg Research alleged in a report in January that the conglomerate had engaged in decades of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The group has denied any wrongdoing.
But since the Hindenburg report was published on January 24, the Adani Total Gas stock has tanked nearly 78% from Rs 3,885.45 on January 24 to Rs 855.35 on Thursday. The Adani Transmission stock has slumped over 66% from Rs 2,756.15 to Rs 917.
The exclusions will likely trigger a outflow of $186 million (over Rs 1,500 crore) for Adani Total Gas and $203 million (over Rs 1,667 crore) for Adani Transmission, Brian Freitas, an independent equities analyst, told Bloomberg.
The MSCI’s decision to drop the two Adani stocks came three months after the stock compiler had cut the free float status of four of the conglomerate’s firms, including Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas. A free float is the proportion of shares that can be bought publicly in the securities markets by international investors.
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