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On November 20, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment against the Adani Group, charging its chairman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and other senior executives with orchestrating a “massive bribery scheme” to win energy contracts in India. This event changed the dynamics of the Adani Group’s newly initiated lobbying efforts in the US. From a modest commercial lobbying exercise, it turned into a targeted lobbying effort with two of most renowned legal and lobbying firms brought on board for what appears to have been a crisis management campaign.

An analysis of federal lobbying disclosures from 2023 to 2025 reveals a distinct three-phase strategy, providing a timeline of Adani’s response to escalating US legal and regulatory pressure. This data has been made available by OpenSecrets, a US-based research group tracking money in US politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

The Adani Group has called the charges in the DOJ indictment “baseless” and denied them. The group said in a press statement on November 21 that it has always upheld and is steadfastly committed to “maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations.”

Throughout 2023, the Adani Group’s lobbying footprint in Washington D.C. was minimal and focused on business objectives.

The total lobbying expenditure for the year was only $40,000.........

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