Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, faces fraud charges in New York, causing the company's stock to plummet.

• The stock prices of Adani Group companies in India dropped following the indictment of its billionaire founder, Gautam Adani, in a New York federal court.
• The billionaire and other defendants are accused of paying over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts that could generate more than $2 billion in profits.

Gautam Adani, the billionaire chairman of India's Adani Group, faced legal charges in a New York federal court on Thursday for his alleged involvement in a bribery and fraud scheme.

The billionaire and seven others are charged with bribing Indian officials for solar energy contracts worth over $2 billion in profits.

Adani Enterprises, the flagship firm of the Indian group, dropped 10%, while Adani Green Energy, the company at the center of controversy, plummeted 17.28%. Additionally, Adani Energy experienced a 20% decline.

The share prices of Adani Power, Adani Port, and Adani Wilmar decreased by 13.81%, 10%, and 7.87%, respectively.

The benchmark Index slid 0.63% in its first hour of trade.

Adani, along with two executives from Adani Green Energy Limited, has been charged with misleading U.S. and international investors about the company's adherence to antibribery and anticorruption standards while raising over $3 billion to finance energy projects.

In Brooklyn's U.S. District Court, a five-count indictment was filed against Ranjit Gupta, Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of Azure Power Global, and three former employees of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, including Saurabh Agarwal, Cyril Cabanes, and Deepak Malhotra.

CDPQ is aware of the charges filed against those employees who were terminated in 2023 and is cooperating with U.S. authorities.

The conglomerate spent most of last year trying to overcome accusations of accounting fraud and "blatant stock manipulation" made by Hindenburg Research.

Hindenburg has maintained its view that Adani is the largest corporate con in history since releasing its January 2023 report, and Adani has not disputed the findings.

The conglomerate countered the allegations, asserting that it has consistently adhered to all legal requirements.

Matt Orton, head of advisory solutions and market strategy at Raymond James, stated that the charges do not affect the "strong underlying fundamentals" of India's market or the country's growth trajectory.

He stated that after the dust settles, there will be greater long-term investment opportunities in India.

—CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.