Indian broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), part of the troubled Adani Group, posted a 97.6% plunge in quarterly profit on Monday amid weak advertising demand.

The results come as companies worldwide seek to rein in costs such as advertising to weather a recession driven by persistently high inflation and aggressive interest rate hikes.

NDTV reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 5.9 million ($72,206.58) for the quarter ended March 31, compared with Rs 241.6 million a year earlier.

Operating income fell 35.5 per cent to Rs 669.6 crore due to a “slowdown in global ad spend”, the media company said. Total spending rose 5.9%, driven by production and service costs.

NDTV and other Adani Group company shares have been hammered since US short-seller Hindenburg Research raised concerns on January 24 about the group’s debt levels and use of tax havens. Adani Group has denied the allegations.

Since then, NDTV’s share price has fallen about 33%, while the Nifty Media index has declined 9.69% over the same period.

Ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, through RRPR Holding and Vishvapradhan Commercial, owns about 64.7% of NDTV after tough competition last year.

Last month, Reliance Industries Ltd-owned rival TV18 Broadcast Ltd also reported a quarterly profit decline, citing lower-than-expected advertising revenue.