The financial index provider, MSCI said on Friday that it will lower the free float of two India’s Adani Group companies, Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission, in its forthcoming May index review. Adani Transmission’s free float is now rated at 10%, down from 25%, while Adani Total Gas’s free float is now rated at 14%, down from 25%, as per MSCI’s assessment.

For the unversed, that free float refers to the portion of outstanding shares that are available for purchase by foreign investors on public stock markets. While offering a comprehensive range of goods and services, including market indices, analytics, and ESG research for overseas investors, MSCI is a provider of investment decision support tools. Worldwide, different financial products and strategies use the company’s indexes as a benchmark.

Following MSCI’s February announcement to delay the implementation of these revisions, which were earlier scheduled to go into effect in March, the decision was made to reduce the free float of two Adani firms. The index provider explained that the delay was due to “potential replicability issues” and that its approach requires that indexes be reproduced “in an actual portfolio in a cost-efficient manner.”

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Additionally, in response to complaints from American short seller Hindenburg Research, MSCI declared in February that it will evaluate the free float designation of some Adani firms’ stocks. The spat between Adani and Hindenburg started when, just days before Adani Enterprises’ FPO, Hindenburg Research published a study accusing the ports to power giant of utilising sophisticated offshore structures to steal billions of dollars from its Indian operations. All of these accusations by the activist short seller were refuted by the corporation.

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