Seven questions about Adani’s Andhra solar deal – and why Jagan Reddy’s defences don’t hold

On November 20, in a court filing, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission said Gautam Adani had “paid or promised a bribe” to Andhra Pradesh government officials “at or in connection with” a meeting in August 2021 between Adani and “the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh”. In return, the SEC said, it had been agreed that Andhra Pradesh would buy expensive power from Adani’s upcoming solar power project.

Two days later, the YSR Congress Party, which was in power in Andhra Pradesh between 2019 and 2024 under Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, responded by arguing that its government had not entered into any agreement with Adani Group. Instead, it said, its power purchase contract was with the Solar Energy Corporation of India, an enterprise owned by the government of India.

But this defence did not hold.

SECI is an intermediary between solar developers and state-owned electricity distribution companies, known as discoms. It invites bids from solar developers and then approaches discoms to purchase the capacity it has bidded out. In other words, although power purchase agreements or PPAs are signed between SECI and discoms, the eventual suppliers and beneficiaries are the developers.

On November 25, the YSRCP came out with a longer rebuttal in response to an article in the Eenadu newspaper, in...

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