Indian conglomerate Adani, which is chaired by billionaire Gautam Adani, is in talks with at least six international banks to secure up to $3bn in loans to support green hydrogen projects in India, according to reports.
The news come just a year after its green hydrogen partnership with French oil giant TotalEnergies collapsed amid allegations of fraud against Adani, which the Indian company denies, brought by a US short seller.
The $3bn cash, if secured, will be used for capital spending as part of the company’s planned $50bn investment in renewable H2 infrastructure in the Indian state of Gujarat over the next ten years, via its green hydrogen unit, Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL), Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Singaporean bank DBS, Germany’s Deutsche Bank, First Abu Dhabi, Japan’s MUFG Bank, UK-based Standard Chartered, and Dutch financial powerhouse ING are among the financial institutions in talks with Adani, which have been ongoing since June.
The loans could come in two to three tranches, with terms of three to five years.
Sources said that ANIL, which has plans to produce three million tonnes of green hydrogen in its home state of Gujarat, is aiming for first production within three years.
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“Adani New Industries plans to kickstart clean fuel production in Gujarat by 2027, with a potential investment of up to $50 billion over a decade,” an anonymous source was quoted as saying.
In addition to green hydrogen production, ANIL has plans to build electrolyser manufacturing capabilities, as well as factories making components for upstream renewables.
However, the company was rocked by allegations of “brazen fraud” by short-seller Hindenburg Research a year ago, and is still the subject of an ongoing investigation by India’s financial regulators.
Amid the ensuring stock-market rout, in which Adani’s stock lost $70bn of value, TotalEnergies pulled out of its partnership with ANIL — which had envisioned a joint investment of $50bn in green H2.
However, Adani said in August 2023 that it would push ahead with the investment anyway, pledging to spend $300m that year.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) was due to conclude its investigation in August, having said in May that it had so far “drawn a blank” on the allegations.
Last month, India’s Supreme Court ordered Sebi to conclude its investigation within three months, simultaneously denying a petition, made on the grounds of conflicts of interest among Sebi panel members, to transfer the Adani case to a special investigative unit.
Hydrogen Insight reached out to Adani for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
