Story so far:  Touted as a ‘one-stop shop for all things related to solar power’, Gensol Engineering Ltd saw its shares plummet by 90% in April this year from their 52-week high of ₹1125 in June 24, 2024. The fall followed after India’s regulatory body, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), found alarming pattern of fund diversion by the company’s promoters — Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi. 

In its interim order, SEBI revealed that the Jaggi brothers treated Gensol, which is listed in the National Stock Exchange (NSE), as a proprietary firm and diverted corporate funds to buy a high-end apartment in The Camellias, DLF Gurgaon, splurge on a luxury golf set, pay off credit cards and transfer money to close relatives. Furthermore, it found that Gensol’s electric vehicle (EV) plant in Pune had “no manufacturing activity” and only two to three labourers were present when a NSE official visted the site.

However, Gensol is not the only company the brothers have endangered. Electric cab service BluSmart — another start-up founded by the brothers and seen as a rival to Uber, suspended its services after SEBI’s critical report. As its fleet of 8000 taxis are procured by Gensol and then leased to BluSmart, its services have been affected due to SEBI’s probe into the Jaggis. The company has offered a ‘refund within the next 90 days if services do not resume’, reported Reuters.

Who are the Jaggis?

Raised as ‘Army kids’, the elder brother — Anmol Singh Jaggi, nursed entrepreneurial spirit since his early years. While studying Applied Petroleum Engineering at Dehradun’s University of Petroleum & Energy Studies between 2003 and 2007, Anmol first dipped into the renewable energy sector in his final semester of B.Tech. An internship at Reliance Industries pushed him into carbon trading, where in he purchased carbon credits from wind farms in India and sold them to European companies. 

On July 2, 2007, he founded Gensol Engineering in a 50 sq. ft space in Ahmedabad offering Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) solutions for solar projects. The company helps its clients in designing, procuring materials and installation in solar plants, i.e. start-to-finish of the project. Touting its rooted beginnings, Anmol posted on LinkedIn, “16 years today of being super pumped in building business, making friends, awesome team, kind investors,” displaying a photo with his parents and grandparents. His brother – Puneet, who completed his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in 2010, joined Gensol soon after. 

In 2016, Puneet also founded Prescinto Technologies — an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based asset performance management provider for renewable energy. Based in Bengaluru, the firm was part of the Gensol Group and catered to customers in fourteen countries. With AI solutions, the company focused on analysing clean energy plant data to delivering increased generation. This company was acquired by IT giant IBM in October 2024. 

Meanwhile, Anmol founded Matrix Gas And Renewables Limited in 2018 — a gas supplier and distributor for energy production, focusing on natural gas, biogas and green hydrogen. As part of the Gensol group, Matrix is part of the basket of renewable energy solutions offered including lithium-ion cell manufacturing, battery energy storage, EV leasing and manufacturing and solar EPC. Together, the brothers also founded BluSmart in 2019.

Between 2019-2024, stocks analysts were very bullish on Gensol as it expanded its business scope from solar to EV sector, according to Fortune India. Its share prices surged from ₹85 to ₹2,392, delivering returns of 2714% to its investors.

What went wrong with Gensol?

According to Businessline, the company’s revenue was on the rise from 2022 till 2025, with its performance beating 2024. With orders worth ₹4,000 crore and over 8,300 EVs leased by December 2024, Gensol’s prospects seemed bright. However, by March 2025, the company’s credit rating reports downgraded it to D-rating (i.e. expected to default soon). This sent Gensol’s stock crash by 20% on the same day and it hit lower everyday. 

There were several reasons listed for Gensol financial issues are — three years of cash outflows exceeding its inflows (negative cash flows), increasing trend of promoters pledging their shares as collateral for loans (promoter share pledge) from 81.7% in December 2024 to 85.5% in February 2025, dropping promoter holdings from 71.2% in March 2022 to 62.1% in 2025 and the resignation of the CFO on March 6 citing ‘personal reasons’. Gensol’s s liquidity position and investor confidence were diminished prior to SEBI’s probe. 

In April this year, SEBI initiated a probe following complaints of share price manipulation and default in loan repayments, filed in June 2024. Gensol had availed ₹977.75 crore in term loans from institutions like IREDA and PFC of which ₹663.89 crore was earmarked for purchasing 6400 EVs. However, only 4,704 vehicles worth ₹567.73 crore were procured, ₹262.13 crore unaccounted for, found SEBI. 

This triggered a slump in Gensol’s stock from its record high of ₹2,392 in October 2023 to half its worth (₹1126) in June 2024 and to ₹111.65 on April 21, 2025 — days after SEBI’s interim order.

What has SEBI found on Jaggis?

In response to SEBI’s findings, Gensol admitted that it had procured only 4,704 of the 6400 EVs it had received funding for, leaving ₹262.13 crore unaccounted for. SEBI found that in many instances, funds transferred to Gensol’s supplier Go-Auto for EV purchases were routed back to it or entities linked to Anmol and Puneet either directly or indirectly.

Some funds were used for unsanctioned purposes. These include financing a luxury apartment in DLF Camellias by routing funds via Anmol’s Capbridge Ventures, ₹6.20 crore allegedly diverted to Anmol’s mother Jasminder Kaur, ₹2.98 crore to his wife Mugdha Kaur Jaggi and investing ₹50 lakh in Ashneer Grover’s startup Third Unicorn, ₹26 lakh on a golf set and ₹3 lakh spent through MakeMyTrip for travel. On Puneet, SEBI found that he diverted ₹1.13 crore to his spouse Shalmali Kaur Jaggi, ₹87.52 lakh to his mother and pay off his credit card bills. 

In its 29-page order, SEBI concluded, “These transactions would mean that the diversions would need to be written off from the company’s books, ultimately resulting in losses to the investors of the company.” 

It has barred the Jaggi brothers from holding any directorship or key management position in Gensol or any other listed company. Gensol’s promoters have been prohibited from accessing the securities market until further notice, citing fund diversion and serious governance lapses. The company’s proposed stock split in the ratio of 1:10 has also been put on hold. A forensic auditor is now further investigating the matter. 

US markets opened on a mixed note Thursday morning as investors closely monitored ongoing signals about global trade negotiations, particularly between the United States and China.Lingering uncertainty around tariff talks, paired with cautious sentiment from key officials, continued to shape investor behaviour across asset classes.
As of 9:42 AM GMT-4, US stock markets showed a mixed performance with investors closely monitoring the status of trade talks between the United States and China. The S&P 500 was up 15.05 points, or 0.28%, at 5,390.91, reflecting cautious optimism in the broader market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 100.3 points, or 0.25%, to 39,506.27 as of the same time, dragged lower by weakness in industrial and financial stocks, which are more exposed to global trade tensions. In contrast, the Nasdaq rose 107.29 points, or 0.64%, to 16,815.34, lifted by gains in large-cap tech names.
Gold climbed $41.10, or 1.25%, to $3,335.20, while oil prices also advanced, with West Texas Intermediate crude up $0.58, or 0.93%, at $62.85 per barrel. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note dropped 5.1 basis points to 4.336%, reflecting a shift toward safer assets.
In currency markets, the euro traded at $1.137, up 0.006 or 0.522% against the US dollar as of the latest reading. The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, declined 0.92 points, or 3.23%, to 27.53.
Meanwhile, Stock markets mostly fell on Thursday after China dismissed US President Donald Trump‘s upbeat comments about progress in trade negotiations, casting doubt on the prospects of a deal to end the ongoing US-China trade war.
Markets had rallied the previous day when Trump suggested that tariffs on Chinese goods could be significantly reduced and that a “fair deal” with Beijing was within reach.
However, China on Thursday stated that claims of active trade talks with Washington were “groundless,” dampening investor optimism.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added to the uncertainty, saying that the two countries were “not yet” discussing the lowering of tariffs.
“The investing world went back to clinging to every word from the White House, but with such a confusing and often contradictory stance on tariffs, volatility was all that could really be expected,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
European stock markets fell as investors also focused on a series of corporate earnings reports for clues about how tariffs might affect business outlooks moving forward.
“Comments about tariffs from business leaders were everywhere, and investors were eager to see how companies planned to manage potential cost pressures,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Amid the uncertainty, the US dollar weakened, as investors turned to traditional safe-haven assets like the Swiss franc, the yen, and gold.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.5 percent higher, while Shanghai ended the day flat and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped nearly one percent.
Bessent also addressed US-Japan trade talks, stating that there were “absolutely no currency targets,” despite Trump’s previous remarks expressing a desire for a stronger yen.
Seoul’s stock market declined after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2025.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 had closed 1.7 percent higher on Wednesday, reflecting previous optimism.
In corporate news, Japanese automaker Nissan issued a stark profit warning, adding to investor concerns. Conversely, Nintendo shares surged as much as 5.5 percent following stronger-than-expected pre-order demand in Japan for its upcoming Switch 2 console.
French software company Dassault Systèmes saw its shares drop around seven percent in Paris after reporting a decline in net profit and revising its 2025 operating margin forecast downward.
Luxury group Kering fell roughly four percent in Paris as its Gucci brand continued to experience a sales slump.
Carmaker Renault, also based in Paris, rose around two percent after announcing further cost-cutting plans in response to US tariffs and reporting a slight increase in sales volumes.
In Frankfurt, German sportswear maker Adidas jumped about three percent as its first-quarter profit nearly doubled, surpassing market expectations.
Key Figures at 1100 GMT:

Currencies:

Commodities:

Image used for representational purpose.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Thursday (April 24, 2025) amid profit-taking after a seven-day rally and disappointing earnings from Hindustan Unilever.

Selling in blue-chips ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and a largely muted trend in Asian and European equities also dragged the markets lower.

The 30-share BSE benchmark declined 315.06 points or 0.39% to settle at 79,801.43. During the day, it dropped 391.94 points or 0.48% to 79,724.55.

The NSE Nifty went down by 82.25 points or 0.34% to 24,246.70.

In the past seven trading days, the BSE benchmark gauge zoomed 6,269.34 points or 8.48% and the Nifty jumped 1,929.8 points or 8.61%.

From the Sensex firms, FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) dropped 4% after the firm reported a decline of 3.35% in consolidated net profit at ₹2,475 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2025 on lower margins.

Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Eternal, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finance were also among the laggards.

Nestle India Ltd on Thursday reported a 6.5% decline in consolidated net profit at ₹873.46 crore for March quarter of FY25 as the FMCG industry faced food inflation and moderation in urban consumption.

IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Titan and Asian Paints were among the gainers.

“The domestic market witnessed mild profit-booking after the recent rally. Similarly, global markets too experienced selling pressure as the market participants scaled back the possibility of a quick resolution of tariff disputes between the U.S. and China.

“FMCG majors’ Q4 results were weak, impacted by subdued volumes and margin pressure, which led the sector to underperform,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled lower while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 and Shanghai SSE Composite ended in the positive territory.

European markets were quoting lower.

U.S. markets ended sharply higher on Wednesday. Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.50%, S&P 500 surged 1.67% and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.07%.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.03% to $66.10 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹3,332.93 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark jumped 520.90 points or 0.65% to settle at 80,116.49, the highest closing level since December 18, on Wednesday. The Nifty rallied 161.70 points or 0.67% to 24,328.95.