Business News

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday issued an interim order against solar EPC company Gensol Engineering and its promoters, Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, accusing them of misappropriating hundreds of crores in term loans sanctioned for the purchase of electric vehicles.SEBI’s order lays bare how Anmol Singh Jaggi, the public face of India’s clean energy ambitions, used Gensol Engineering’s soaring profile to orchestrate a series of complex financial diversions—misusing institutional loans, laundering funds through related entities, and financing a billionaire lifestyle with shareholder money.According to the 29-page order issued on April 15, 2025, SEBI said: “What has been witnessed in the present matter is a complete breakdown of internal controls and corporate governance norms in Gensol, a listed company. The promoters were running a listed public company as if it were a propriety firm.”Here are nine distinct ways the regulator says Anmol Singh Jaggi and his associates diverted corporate funds:1. Diverting EV loans for luxury real estateRs 50 crore was transferred from Go-Auto to Capbridge Ventures LLP—where Anmol and Puneet are designated partners. Capbridge then paid Rs 42.94 crore to DLF for a luxury apartment in The Camellias, Gurugram, originally booked by Anmol’s mother. The booking advance of Rs 5 crore was also funded by Gensol.Gensol received Rs 71.39 crore from IREDA on September 30, 2022, which was meant for procuring EVs. That same day, Gensol transferred Rs 93.88 crore (including promoter contribution) to Go-Auto, its vehicle supplier. From there, Rs 50 crore was transferred to Capbridge Ventures LLP, a related party, where Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi are designated partners.“Go-Auto, on the same day, transferred Rs. 50 Crore to Capbridge... On October 06, 2022, Capbridge transferred Rs. 42.94 Crore to DLF Limited... for the purchase of an apartment in the project The Camellias.”2. Inflated EV purchase claims and unaccounted fundsBetween FY22 and FY24, Gensol secured Rs 663.89 crore in term loans from IREDA and PFC for the procurement of 6,400 electric vehicles.“Gensol... acknowledged that it had procured only 4,704 electric vehicles... for a total consideration of Rs. 567.73 Crore,” according to the SEBI order.This left Rs 96.16 crore from the loans unexplained. But factoring in the company’s required equity contribution of 20%, SEBI observed:“An amount of Rs. 262.13 Crore... remains unaccounted, even though more than a year has passed since the Company availed the last tranche of the... financing,” said SEBI.3. Circular fund flows back to promoter entitiesFrom another IREDA loan of Rs 43.68 crore in February 2023, SEBI traced Rs 40 crore being transferred to Wellray, a connected entity, which then moved Rs 29.5 crore back to Gensol and Rs 3.9 crore to Prescinto—both related parties.“Wellray made the following outward transfers... Rs. 29.50 Crore... to Gensol... Rs. 3.90 Crore... to Prescinto...,” according to the SEBI order.SEBI added that Rs 50 lakh from this was also used by Wellray to trade in Gensol’s shares.4. Direct cash benefit to Anmol Singh JaggiRs 37.5 crore from a Rs 171.30 crore loan sanctioned by IREDA to Gensol EV Lease (a Gensol subsidiary) was ultimately transferred directly to Anmol Singh Jaggi.“Rs. 37.5 Crore out of the loan amount... was ultimately transferred to Anmol Singh Jaggi,” according to the SEBI order.5. Re-routing through Gensol Consultant and CapbridgeA Rs 117.47 crore PFC loan disbursed in September 2023 was split between Capbridge (Rs 50.04 crore) and Gensol Consultants (Rs 46.65 crore), both linked to the Jaggis. Capbridge then sent Rs 40 crore to Gensol Ventures Pvt Ltd, another promoter entity.“Based on the fund trail... it is prima facie observed that Rs. 96.69 Crore was diverted to promoter and promoter-linked entities...,” the order said.6. Using Wellray as a vehicle for fund movementOver FY23 and FY24, Gensol transferred Rs 424.14 crore to Wellray. Of this, Rs 246.07 crore was disbursed to related parties and individuals, including Rs 25.76 crore to Anmol and Rs 13.55 crore to Puneet Singh Jaggi.“Wellray has transferred funds amounting to Rs. 39.31 Crore to Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi...,” SEBI said.7. Personal luxury spending with diverted fundsSEBI’s analysis of Anmol Singh Jaggi’s bank accounts showed payments for foreign currency (Rs 1.86 crore), luxury brands (Titan, TaylorMade), personal travel, and credit card bills. Payments also went to family members and investments in companies he held shares in.“Majority of the funds... were transferred to other related parties, family members or utilized for personal expenses.” said SEBI.For example, Rs 10.63 crore was transferred to Gensol Ventures Pvt Ltd, Rs 6.20 crore to his mother, Rs 2.98 crore to his wife, Rs 26 lakh to TaylorMade for a golf set, and Rs 17.28 lakh to Titan, reflecting a clear pattern of personal expenditure using corporate funds.8. Backdoor financing of preferential allotmentOn September 26, 2022, Gensol Ventures Pvt Ltd subscribed to Rs 10.09 crore worth of shares in a preferential issue. SEBI found that the money had come from Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi, who themselves received it from Wellray—funded by Gensol.“Gensol had provided funds, through layered transactions, to Gensol Ventures... for subscribing to 97,445 equity shares...” said SEBI.9. Stock price manipulation through related-party tradingWellray, funded by Gensol and affiliates, traded almost exclusively in Gensol shares, buying and selling over Rs 338 crore worth of stock between November 2022 and November 2024.“Wellray predominately traded in the scrip of Gensol Engineering Limited (99% of total trade value)... funded by Gensol and its promoters/promoter-related entities,” said SEBI.What SEBI has done so farSEBI has barred Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi from acting as directors or KMPs in Gensol and from accessing the securities market. It also suspended Gensol’s planned stock split and ordered a forensic audit.“The Company’s funds were routed to related parties and used for unconnected expenses, as if the Company’s funds were promoters’ piggy bank.”What’s nextThe forensic auditor appointed by SEBI will submit its findings within six months. Meanwhile, investors have been cautioned, and exchanges instructed to halt corporate actions.The regulator’s interim order concludes:“The internal controls at Gensol appear to be loose and through the quick layering of transactions, funds have seamlessly flowed to multiple related entities/individuals... reflecting a culture of weak internal control.”Also read | Inside details: How Gensol promoter bought luxury DLF Camellias apartment in Gurgaon with 'diverted funds'(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

China appointed as its new trade negotiator on Wednesday a former representative to the World Trade Organization who replaces Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, amid an escalating tariff war with the United States.Li Chenggang, 58, a former assistant commerce minister during the first administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, takes over from Wang, 59, the human resources and social security ministry said in a statement.The change comes as Beijing pursues a hardline stance in an intensifying trade war with Washington triggered by Trump's hefty tariffs on items imported from China.Li, who has held several key jobs in the commerce ministry, such as in departments overseeing treaties and law and fair trade, has an academic background in the elite Peking University and Germany's Hamburg University.He replaces Wang, a veteran commerce official and top trade negotiator since 2022.In the leadup to the U.S. tariff escalation, Wang welcomed foreign executives in Beijing, some from PepsiCo, Visa, P&G, Rio Tinto and Vale, reassuring them of China's economic prospects.The step came after official data showed foreign direct investment plummeted 27.1% in local currency terms in 2024 on the year, for its largest such drop since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Shares of city gas distribution companies Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL), and Adani Total Gas Ltd (ATGL) fell up to 6.4% in early trade on Wednesday after all three companies disclosed material changes in their domestic gas allocations, citing government-mandated revisions effective April 16, 2025.The shares of MGL took the hit, falling 6.3% to their day’s low of Rs 1,233, followed by IGL shares, which fell by 3.8% to Rs 172. Meanwhile, Adani Total Gas shares slipped 1.6% to Rs 601.05.The allocation of cheaper APM (Administered Price Mechanism) gas has been curtailed and replaced by higher-priced New Well Gas (NWG), raising concerns of margin pressures across the sector.The move, stemming from reduced domestic gas availability and shifting supply dynamics, is expected to affect profitability for these companies as they now have to rely more heavily on costlier gas supplies for their PNG (domestic) and CNG (transport) segments. Each company has issued separate stock exchange filings detailing the scale of impact.IGLIn a filing to the exchanges, IGL revealed that its domestic gas allocation has been reduced by around 20% with effect from April 16, 2025. While the company has been compensated with an allocation of New Well Gas (NWG) equal to approximately 125% of the shortfall, the higher pricing of NWG—linked to 12% of the Indian Crude Basket—is expected to dent margins.IGL had been receiving gas at a fixed government price of $6.75/MMBtu, which will now be partially replaced with more expensive alternatives, impacting the bottom line.MGLMGL announced that its allocation of APM natural gas has been reduced by 18% compared to the previous fortnight, under the revised guidelines issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.The company noted that while the shortfall is being substituted with New Well/Well Intervention Gas (NWG), the increased cost will negatively impact profitability. MGL is actively evaluating options to mitigate this impact but acknowledged the near-term pressure on margins.ATGLATGL, too, informed exchanges that its APM gas allocation has been cut by 15%, effective April 16, 2025. The company will now depend more on NWG, which is costlier, thereby adding to the overall gas procurement expense.While the company is exploring measures to cushion the impact, it stated clearly that the combination of lower APM allocation and higher NWG pricing will weigh on financial performance going forward.Also read: Morgan Stanley slashes Sensex target to 82,000(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Sunil Subramaniam, Market Expert, says do not put in all your money now, stagger it over the next six months, because the uncertainty will continue to prevail. There will be days of bad news and there will be days of good news, so there will be volatility. But once the BTA is signed, a huge positive move may come in. So, diversify across the pack, but start taking exposure and stagger it because in a year-and-a-half from now, all of these are going to benefit. The long weekend seems to be working well for our markets because each time we are welcomed by a big move in the global markets. But would you say that the uncertainty on tariffs is behind us now, at least for the equity markets?Sunil Subramaniam: I would not say it is behind us, but it has definitely calmed down. I think the markets have overreacted as far as India is concerned to this uncertainty of tariffs. So, all the clarity that is coming – whether it is negative for A country, B country; negative for America, – whatever has happened definitely reduces the uncertainty and fund managers can plan their allocations. India stands in a very good position here, because I do not think there is any negative or bad news. I know there is this pharma related thing which Trump might come up with, but apart from that, if you see India’s position, whichever way this knife cuts the cake is going to be favourable for India. The markets are recognising that and also bear in mind that India specific, there has been a slew of positive things which have been happening over the last month or so, which the markets had not recognised because of this uncertainty overhang. It started from the Budget related tax giveaways to the RBI's policy being very supportive, to initial targets on the monsoon being very favourable, and India's trade deal talks progressing well. There were some leaks saying that it could be signed very soon. So, everything is positive. So far, the market has not discounted this latest bit of Mr Trump rolling back for the 90-day pause as well as the fact that he brought down the tariffs on the electronic components. All of these, plus the fact that the bond market has made Mr Trump to also now hold on in terms of the action because that is finally where it has hit them where it hurts. He was not worried about the dollar, he was not worried about the stock market, but the bond market because the US has a huge $7 trillion refinancing this year of their debt coming up. So, the bond market is something that they listen to and to that extent, the weakening dollar is positive for India. Brent at around $65, again, positive for India. The whole bunch of positive news around India which unfortunately could not be implemented by fund managers taking action and now with the results season coming, fund managers are going to be eager and waiting to take out guidance from the company's earnings and quickly act. You will see this sustained domestic buying now sustaining the market and FII return, of course, it all depends on the global macro, how that pans out but definitely if the actions of the bond market are any indication, it means that Mr Trump is going to slow down in this whole. He has created that major big bang impact. He will now get to the negotiating table and do it and he will try to manage this situation, which is positive from an uncertainty removal for the stock market. Overall, it is reasonably good news and from a domestic perspective, it is time to gradually start accumulating the broad market. How should one look at this space because there was a time when they were benefiting from the China plus one strategy and it looks like almost two years later, a similar strategy is at play for these chemical stocks?Sunil Subramaniam: I think that we will be a beneficiary this time of China plus one. Earlier, the China plus one meant we were trying to snatch from China and supply to America. Now, it is America trying to shut down Chinese imports and hence, the opportunity is now coming from the fact that with the bilateral trade agreement this is going to be one of those key spaces, I suspect would be a winner from the whole BTA. The only point you should watch out for is that if the US is getting shut down as a market, China will try to dump their intermediate chemicals to all countries including India. So, in any country other than the US to which these people were exporting, if China is going to compete by dumping, that could be a threat. Second, we have to put in strong anti-dumping duties for Chinese products into India because a lot of the value chain also comes from China. We need to protect our industry. So, both from a regulatory perspective and from a non-US market perspective, one needs to wait and watch all of these. From the US exports perspective, this will turn out to be a positive story for the specialty chemicals space. Is there going to be some leg up for the recovering rural play and rural demand? Is that going to see an impetus once the monsoon kicks in and is above normal as IMD predicts?Sunil Subramaniam: Yes, absolutely. And it does not need to wait for the actual monsoon to be normal. They say the khabar of a good monsoon means positivity. See, last year was a good year for the rural space because last year's monsoon was also good. Harvests were better. For some reasons, inflation for the urban consumer went up. But for the rural population, rural demand was the one which was recovering and held up whatever consumption there was. So, already the mood is turning positive there and if they know that they are going to sow well, the monsoon is good, their propensity to spend will be higher because it is the outlook for the future which decides today's expenditure. So, it does not need to wait for the monsoon itself to come through. IMD's forecast will see a follow through by Skymet. If that comes in, the news spreads about this itself, the spending will go up on the anticipation of that. So, yes, good harbinger of the rural consumption bit for this rest of the year. What is your anticipation from some of these private banking names and where do you think leadership is going to come in once they report their numbers? Sunil Subramaniam: Sequentially they will do better. They have good control over the NPAs. I do not see a problem there. Given the news that they are cutting deposit rates, it indicates that they are feeling very comfortable on the asset and liability space. So, we are feeling that the deposit growth is good enough, it gives that the overall sense of their business is good. Following the rate cuts, their numbers should be on track and those with a good spread of network and I would rather play the top end of the private sector banks with the top five or six names because the comfort of regulatory overhang is definitely less with the top banks. While up until now, it was all about looking at domestic facing sectors, maybe one could take a contra call on any of these names. Should one steer clear of the ones which are more susceptible to tariffs or what happens globally like Tata Motors, Sona Comstar, Bharat Forge, or Motherson?Sunil Subramaniam: No, enter with a staggered approach. Do not put in all your money now, stagger it over the next six months, because what I see is the uncertainty will continue to prevail. There will be days of bad news and there will be days of good news, so there will be volatility. But once you are past this, once there is a BTA signed, I see a huge positive move coming up here. There will be a few losers as well. So, diversify across the pack, but start taking exposure and stagger it because in a year from now, in a year-and-a-half from now, all of these are going to benefit. The point is we would not know when exactly to start buying. So, I would say start today, but stagger the approach, stagger it over the next six months and diversify it across all these international sectors. I think it is a good time to start doing that. What is your view on the entire quick commerce space as well as the QSR space because of late, a lot of brokerage notes are saying that it looks like the QSR space is going to make a comeback. Are you from that camp as well?Sunil Subramaniam: Yes, I am of that camp. The only thing is that finding the winner is going to be a challenge. Again, my philosophy is to diversify across all the quick commerce players, but overall the quick commerce market is going to grow rapidly, in fact, boom. Who will win, who gives more discounts, who will incur more losses in a longer term win, that is hard to say. So diversify because it is a space as a whole which will do well and the market will respect that. Stay invested in that space. That is my recommendation. Look at these FMCG names given that we are in a new financial year. Now, all those tax cut bonanzas are also at play. The interest rate cut bonanza also will be at play to benefit most of these FMCG plays?Sunil Subramaniam: I would put more of my money in the consumer discretionary space as oppose to FMCG because the giveaway will be used by people to leverage to buy better products. So, whether it is bigger refrigerators, bigger air conditioners, bigger cars, so people use it to upscale because it is the middle class we are talking about and the FMCG piece, just because I get more money, I am not going to go and buy more soap or more hair oil. I would closely track FMCG, from their input perspective on the margins to look at how the commodity cycle plays out. They are heavily dependent on crude and commodities. That is a good reason to buy FMCG from a margin perspective. But on core demand, tax giveaway will benefit the consumer discretionary more than the consumer staples. So just for volume growth, I would not go there. But for margin, I would look at specific companies and buy.