Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
The Congress on Saturday (October 25, 2025) alleged that the savings of Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC) 30 crore policyholders were “systematically misused” to benefit the Adani Group and demanded that Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee investigate how LIC was “forced” to make investments in the conglomerate. There was no immediate response from the Adani Group or the government on the Congress’ allegations.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said disturbing revelations have just emerged in the media about how the “Modani joint venture systematically misused the LIC and the savings of its 30 crore policyholders.”
“Internal documents reveal that Indian officials drafted and pushed through a proposal to invest about ₹33,000 crore of LIC funds in various Adani Group companies in May 2025,” he said.
“The reported goals were to “signal confidence in the Adani Group” and to “encourage participation from other investors,” he said in a statement.
“The question arises: under whose pressure did the officials of the Ministry of Finance and NITI Aayog decide that their job was to bail out a private company facing funding difficulties due to serious allegations of criminality? Is this not a textbook case of ‘mobile phone banking’?” Mr. Ramesh said.
The Congress leader said the costs of “throwing public money at crony firms” became clear when LIC suffered “a staggering ₹7,850 crore loss” in just four hours of trading on September 21, 2024, following the indictment of Gautam Adani and seven of his associates in the United States.
“Adani has been accused of orchestrating a ₹2,000 crore bribery scheme to secure high-priced solar power contracts in India. The Modi government has refused, for nearly a year, to serve a U.S. SEC summons to the Prime Minister’s most favoured business conglomerate,” Mr. Ramesh said.
The Congress has been persistent in its attack on the government since the Adani Group stocks took a beating on the bourses in the wake of U.S.-based short-selling firm, Hindenburg Research, making a litany of allegations.
The Adani Group has dismissed all charges made by the Congress and others as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
Mr. Ramesh further claimed, “The Modani MegaScam is very wide-ranging. For instance, it encompasses: The misuse of agencies such as the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department to force other private companies to sell their assets to the Adani Group.”
Mr. Ramesh also alleged that there was “rigged privatisation” of critical infrastructure assets such as airports and ports for the benefit of the Adani Group alone. He pointed to alleged misuse of diplomatic resources to funnel contracts to the Adani Group in various countries, especially in India’s neighbourhood.
The Congress leader said the scam also encompasses the import of “over-invoiced coal by close Adani associates Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling” using a money-laundering network of shell companies, which contributed to sharp increases in the prices of electricity drawn from Adani power stations in Gujarat.
Mr. Ramesh also pointed to pre-election electricity supply agreements at abnormally high prices in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra and the recent alleged allocation of land at ₹1 per acre for a power plant in poll-bound Bihar.
“The entirety of this Modani MegaScam can only be investigated by a Joint Parliamentary Committee of Parliament that the Indian National Congress has been demanding for almost three years — ever since we published our 100-question series Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun (HAHK).
“As a first step, now at least Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should fully investigate how LIC was literally forced to make investments in the Adani Group,” Ramesh said. “That will be well within its powers,” he added.
Published – October 25, 2025 12:07 pm IST
