FILE PHOTO: A bird flies by the Vedanta office building in Mumbai August 16, 2010. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
| Photo Credit: Reuters

March 12

Indian mining group Vedanta must pay $9.4 million) to Cairn UK Holdings for a delay in paying dividends, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on March 12.

The order, which is on SEBI’s website, said that Vedanta must make the payment within 45 days or face further action.

SEBI also barred Vedanta directors including vice-chairman Navin Agarwal from India’s securities markets for two months.

The regulator in its order said that Vedanta, formerly known as Cairn India, had violated Indian law by withholding dividends that should have been paid to the British company between January 2014 and June 2017.

Vedanta did not immediately respond to a Reuters emailed query for comment.

The Indian company had said it failed to pay dividends because of asset restrictions related to a demand by the Income Tax department. However, the restrictions expired in March 2016.

Cairn UK lodged a complaint with SEBI in 2017 that, despite reminders and the lifting of the restrictions, the dividends were not paid until June 2017 and that Vedanta was liable to pay interest on the delayed dividends.

SEBI said interest should be paid to “compensate for the time value of money that … (Cairn UK) was unlawfully deprived of”.

New Delhi:

In a jolt to Vedanta Limited, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed its plea for reopening of its copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi, closed since May 2018 over pollution concerns, while underlining the importance of health and welfare of the local residents.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud dismissed Vedanta’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the August 18, 2020, verdict of the Madras High Court which had rejected the mining giant’s plea for allowing the Sterlite Copper unit to reopen.

The verdict came days after the Supreme Court proposed to set up a panel of domain experts to inspect the unit and suggest further compliances and the way forward, saying shutting down a plant of “national importance” will not serve anybody’s purpose.

While observing that the closure of the plant was undoubtedly not a matter of first choice, the bench referred to the “repeated nature of breaches” coupled with “severity” of violations by the unit.

“The health and welfare of the residents of the area is again a matter of utmost concern and in the ultimate analysis, the state government is responsible for preserving and protecting their concerns,” said the bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

“We have heard these proceedings for several days and after careful evaluation of the factual and legal material, we have come to the conclusion that the Special Leave Petition (SLP) by the industrial unit shall not warrant interference under Article 136 of the Constitution. For the above reasons, the SLP shall stand dismissed,” it said.

The plant has been closed since May 2018 after 13 people were killed as police opened fire to quell a protest over the alleged pollution caused by it.

Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote on ‘X’: “The Supreme Court has delivered a historic verdict upholding the closure of Sterlite in Thoothukudi due to the strong arguments placed by our government which shattered all the contentions of the factory management”.

“This is a victory for the people who continuously opposed the toxic unit and the determined legal struggle of our government. We will protect people from any kind of danger,” he wrote.

The bench observed it was conscious that the unit had been contributing to the productive assets of the nation and generating employment, but the court has to be mindful of the well-settled principles including principles of sustainable development, the polluter-pays principle, and the public trust doctrine.

While referring to the history of the case in which the Supreme Court had passed orders earlier also, the bench noted that the hearing before the high court had spanned 42 days and it had rendered a verdict on all factual and legal aspects.

The bench noted it was of the view that the areas which are a matter of serious concern include the failure of the petitioner at the material time to remove the copper slag which was dumped indiscriminately at almost 11 sites in the vicinity, including private land adjoining a river.

“We are not inclined in the exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution to re-appreciate the findings of facts which have been arrived at by the high court,” it said.

Article 136 deals with the Supreme Court’s powers to grant special leave to appeal against any judgment, decree sentence or order in any matter passed by any court or tribunal across the country.

The bench also dismissed a separate plea filed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) which was aggrieved by some observations made against it by the high court.

Tamil Nadu leaders including PMK founder S Ramadoss, MDMK leader Vaiko and the CPI (M) state unit also welcomed the verdict.

Thoothukudi, formerly known as Tuticorin, is an industrial city in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu.

During the earlier arguments before the Supreme Court, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Vedanta, while suggesting the way forward, had said the court may appoint a committee of experts comprising representatives of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Central Pollution Control Board, IIT, TNPCB, Vedanta and three independent experts.

At least 13 people were killed and many injured on May 22, 2018, when police opened fire on a huge crowd of people protesting against pollution allegedly caused by the copper smelting unit and its proposed expansion.

Subsequently, the Tamil Nadu government and the TNPCB ordered closure of the mining group’s plant over pollution concerns.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A view of the logo of Vedanta installed on the facade of its headquarters, in Mumbai. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Vedanta on October 24 said Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sonal Shrivastava has resigned, amid a major structural overhaul announced last month.

“Ajay Goel, currently incumbent CFO at Indian edutech start-up Byju’s, will return as Vedanta’s CFO effective from October 30,” the company said in a statement.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta announced plans to carve the metals-to-oil conglomerate into six separate businesses last month, a move aimed at shoring up the group’s financial performance.

Shrivastava had joined Vedanta in June, and was the third person to hold the position since 2021 after GR Arun Kumar and Ajay Goel.

Goel had resigned from Vedanta in April to join Byju’s. (Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)

File picture of the Vedanta logo outside its headquarters in Mumbai
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Mining and oil giant Vedanta ran a covert lobbying campaign to weaken key environmental regulations during the pandemic, OCCRP alleged in a new report.

The not-for-profit organisation said the Indian government approved the changes without public consultation and implemented them using “illegal methods”.

Vedanta spokesperson did not immediately offer any comments.

“In one case, Vedanta led a push to ensure mining companies could produce up to 50% more without new environmental approvals,” it said.

Vedanta’s oil business, Cairn India, also successfully lobbied to have public hearings scrapped for exploratory drilling in oil blocks it won in government auctions. Since then, six of Cairn’s controversial oil projects in Rajasthan have been approved despite local opposition, it claimed.

A man walks past the logo of Vedanta outside its headquarters in Mumbai. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Mining magnate Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd has won an arbitration against a demand for a higher payout from its prolific Rajasthan oil and gas fields after disallowance of ₹9,545 crore ($1.16 billion) in certain costs incurred, the company said.

The government has sought additional profit petroleum (or its share from the oil and gas fields) after it reallocated certain costs between the fields in the block and disallowed a portion of the cost incurred on laying a pipeline to evacuate oil produced from the Rajasthan block.

Also Read | Vedanta chairman mulls to split different businesses into separate companies

As per the contract, companies are allowed to recover all costs incurred before splitting profit in a predetermined ratio with the government. If a certain portion of cost is disallowed, it would result in higher profits and a resultant higher share to the government. Vedanta had challenged such a demand before an arbitration tribunal.

“The company has received an arbitration award dated August 23, 2023… upholding the contention of the company that additional profit petroleum, on account of Director General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) audit exceptions in relation to allocation of common development costs across Development Areas and certain other matters, is not payable as per terms of the Production Sharing Contract for Rajasthan Block,” it said in a stock exchange filing.

It however did not give details of the arbitration award. “The company is in the process of reviewing the award in detail and evaluating its financial impact,” it said.

In its latest annual report, Vedanta had put the number at ₹9,545 crore.

“DGH, in September 2022, has trued up the earlier demand raised till 31 March 2018 up to 14 May 2020 for Government’s additional share of profit oil based on its computation of disallowance of cost incurred over retrospective re-allocation of certain common costs between Development Areas (DAs) of Rajasthan Block and certain other matters aggregating to ₹9,545 crore applicable interest thereon representing share of the company and its subsidiary,” it said.

The firm said it disputed the demand and the other audit exceptions as it believed these were not in accordance with the PSC and are entirely unsustainable.

“In accordance with PSC terms, the group had commenced arbitration proceedings. The final hearing and arguments were concluded in September 2022. Post hearing briefs were filed by both the parties and award is awaited,” the annual report released last month said.

The award has now come.

Sources said DGH, which is the upstream nodal agency of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, had way back in May 2018 raised a demand for additional share of profit oil for the government after disallowing ₹1,508 crore out of the cost incurred on laying a heated-pipeline to transport Barmer crude and ₹2,723 crore in the reallocation of certain common costs.

The numbers were revised in subsequent years. These costs pertain to only Vedanta’s share in the Rajasthan block as state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which holds 30% interest in the block, had agreed to pay the government if these costs are disallowed.

It was not immediately known if the government will abide by the arbitration award. The government had previously challenged all arbitration awards it had lost.

Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Resources Ltd, addresses the audience during the ‘SemiconIndia 2023’, India’s annual semiconductor conference, in Gandhinagar, India, July 28, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Vedanta group chairman Anil Agarwal on July 28 said that first phase of its semiconductor project will involve $5 billion investment of the overall $20-billion outlay, and the venture will be ready with made-in-India chip in two and a half years.

Vedanta is talking to three companies to rope them in as technology partners for its mega plans entailing foundary, chip manufacturing, and packaging and design.

“In 2.5 years, we will give you Vedanta made-in-India chips,” Mr. Agarwal told reporters on the sidelines of SemiconIndia 2023 event.

The first phase of its semiconductor investment will be to the tune of $5 billion, which is being structured.

Also read | India’s semiconductor market to reach $55 billion by 2026: Deloitte

“Vendata has a good cash flow, we will make a capital allocation in Vedanta and there is queue of people to give us equity and debt…but we want the tie-ups to be in place first, and have ecosystem,” he said.

After parting ways with Foxconn on their semiconductor joint venture, Vedanta group has made it clear that it remains committed to building India’s first semiconductor and display fabs in Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat, and substantial progress has happened to tie up with technology and equity partners in semiconductors.

Both Foxconn and Vedanta have now decided to apply for India chip-making incentives separately.

Foxconn has said it is working on plans to apply for incentives under semiconductor and display fab programme, as the contract manufacturer pledged its commitment to India.

The Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant said it has been actively reviewing landscape for optimal partners.

India is wooing semiconductor and display manufacturers with a $10-billion incentive scheme, making a determined push to position itself as a global powerhouse for chip making.

Sophisticated chips are part of everyday life, used in mobile phones to refrigerators and cars to high-tech industries, and so fostering local industry with carefully-crafted schemes and policy sweeteners will link India to an ever-growing global chip market.

As it is, the global semiconductor shortage has emphasised the importance of this critical component in modern-day electronics.