In its letter to Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch, InGovern said a Greater Regulatory Scrutiny is needed by the market regulator and the Reserve Bank of India as it alleged that more than ₹60,000 crore of public wealth has been destroyed systematically by promoters of Future Group.

InGovern said in its letter that unlike the Adani Group, the Future Group has comparatively more retail shareholders and the loss of wealth of public shareholders is therefore much larger than that of Adani.

“If anything, there should be greater regulatory scrutiny on Future Group of companies, than others, as over ₹60,000 crores of public wealth have been destroyed systematically by the promoters of Future Group”, it said. It further said that it is imperative that Sebi and RBI show urgency and ensure actionable outcomes in ensuring the forensic audit of Future Group is taken to a logical conclusion and the assets are recovered.

Future Group’s flagship Future Retail is facing insolvency and the company owes over ₹15,000 crore to its creditors led by Bank of India.

On 23 January, Kishore Biyani stepped down from the position of executive chairman and director of Future Retail.

In fact, in a letter written to the resolution professional, Biyani had said that he had completed the required handholding within his capacity for the RP to take over the entire control of the company and its assets. He had also stated that he had completed the handover of whatever information and data, which was earlier available with the management or which could be retrieved from ex-employees or third parties and had shared all the insight about the business and operations and various hurdles faced by the management

“This resignation has meant that Biyani is abdicating all responsibility of helping the company recover assets or ensure that there is any continued value for sale to investors.”, InGovern said in its letter.

Responding to the allegations made by InGovern, Biyani said, “We have been a victim of extraordinary circumstances and situation created by covid , dispute with Amazon and then Reliance’s action and the scheme of arrangement not going through. The Board of Future Retail is suspended without any powers and if it helps in any way the resolution of the company, we are more than willing to take the resignation back and be a part of the board. Irrespective, the erstwhile management of the company is doing its best to help to the best of its ability to do whatsoever in their capacity”, he said.

The advisory firm has also requested Sebi to ensure that the forensic audit is completed and the results are made public. Moreover, it also asked for recovery of monies from the promoters of the company.

In May, the minority shareholders and InGovern had written to Sebi asking it to order a forensic audit of Future Group of companies, including Future Retail, because of the change of directorship, and track all related-party transactions of the company.

Recently, the resolution professional managing the insolvency of Kishore Biyani’s flagship Future Retail filed an application before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) claiming that the promoters and statutory auditors are not co-operating. This application has been filed under Section 19 (2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).