Sebi alleges insider trading in Adani Group’s open offer for NDTV

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has alleged that Pranav Adani had shared price-sensitive information about Adani Group’s open offer to acquire shares of NDTV (New Delhi Television) with his brothers-in-law, violating insider trading norms, showed a document reviewed by ET.

The allegations pertain to August 2022, when the broadcaster was being taken over by the Adani Group. Pranav Adani is a director of Adani Enterprises.

Sebi has served show cause notices to Pranav Adani, his brothers-in-law Kunal and Nrupal Shah and father-in-law Dhanpal Shah, showed the document.

In its notice issued on October 15, 2025, Sebi alleged that calls were exchanged among Kunal, Nrupal and Dhanpal Shah with Pranav Adani, indicating frequency of communication between the individuals and Pranav Adani during the UPSI (unpublished price sensitive information ) period.

ET’s email queries to Sebi, Adani Group, Kunal, Nrupal and Dhanpal Shah remained unanswered until the publication of this report.

Last week, Sebi dropped an insider trading case against Pranav Adani and his brothers-in-law Nrupal and Kunal Shah, citing lack of evidence. Sebi had alleged that Pranav Adani shared price sensitive information about Adani Green Energy’s acquisition of SoftBank-backed SB Energy Holdings with his relatives before the deal was announced. On August 23, 2022, JM Financial, manager of the open offer, informed stock exchanges after market hours about a public announcement relating to an open offer for NDTV. The announcement said Vishvapradhan Commercial, along with persons acting in concert-AMG Media Networks and Adani Enterprises – would acquire up to 26% of NDTV’s share capital from public shareholders. The open offer involved the purchase of 16.76 million shares at ₹294 apiece, valuing the transaction at ₹492.81 crore. The regulator said the announcement was made after the close of trading on a market day, qualifying this as UPSI until it was disseminated through the exchanges. When trading resumed on August 24, 2022, NDTV’s shares jumped, opening about 2.5% higher than the previous close and ending the day nearly 5% higher on the National Stock Exchange.

“The corporate announcement of August 23, 2022, is UPSI,” Sebi said in its notice. It added that the information “materially affected the price of the scrip of NDTV upon coming into the public domain.”

Subsequently, the regulator launched an investigation to examine whether certain entities traded NDTV shares while in possession of price sensitive information. The investigation period was between May 2, 2022, to September 15, 2022, covering the pre-UPSI, UPSI and post-announcement phases.

According to Sebi’s findings, Kunal Shah allegedly bought NDTV shares on multiple occasions during the UPSI period, including purchases made in the weeks and days leading up to the announcement.