NEW DELHI—India’s sprawling Adani Group conglomerate is seeking to take control of one of the country’s first 24-hour news channels, apparently surprising the outlet’s founders and raising concerns among journalists about the channel’s future editorial independence.
Chaired by Gautam Adani, India’s wealthiest man, and with interests spanning energy to ports, the Adani Group is widely seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It has now acquired nearly a one-third share of New Delhi Television Ltd., better known as NDTV, through a complex chain of transactions rooted in a loan the channel’s founders took out over a decade ago.