France’s TotalEnergies, one of the largest foreign investors in Gautam Adani’s business group, has said it has suspended participation in the Indian conglomerate’s $50 billion hydrogen project.

The partnership with the Adani Group was announced in June last year, said Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive of the French group. But haven’t signed the contract yet.

As per the June 2022 announcement, TotalEnergies was to pick up 25 percent equity in Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL).

The Adani Group firm aims to generate one million tonnes of green energy by 2030 with an investment of USD 50 billion to develop a green hydrogen ecosystem.

Patrick Pouyanne said, “Obviously, the hydrogen project will be put on hold until things are clear to us”.

Referring to the hydrogen venture, Patrick Pouyanne said, “It was announced, not signed. As such, this partnership does not currently exist. Mr. Adani currently has many other things to deal with, so it would be better to suspend the partnership while the audit is underway.”

TotalEnergies, which has a $3.1 billion investment in Adani Group, will await the results of an audit initiated by Hindenburg Research on the group in response to allegations of accounting and financial fraud.

Adani group has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them malicious and an “attack on India”.

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