Vedanta Ltd approves Rs 200-crore political contribution
Vedanta Ltd approved a Rs 200-crore contribution to political parties, even as the parent company is working round the clock to arrange a $1-billion payment on dollar-denominated bonds that are due in January.
The board also approved reinstating the unutilised limit of Rs 57 crore — agreed in June 2022 — for making contributions to political parties.
ET has reviewed the copy of the resolution passed by the board. Emails sent to Vedanta Ltd for its comments remained unanswered until the publication of this report.
The limits of Rs 200 crore and Rs 57 crore contributions are valid until March 2025, the resolution copy shows.
The board has approved «the contribution either directly or through electoral trust and in any form including subscription to electoral bonds».
Vedanta's board resolution stated that the «chairman and the vice chairman be, and are hereby, severally authorised to decide the quantum of political contribution to be paid to individual political parties».
Anil Agarwal is the non-executive chairman of Vedanta and his brother Navin Agarwal is executive vice chairman, according to the company's website.
Vedanta passed the resolution on November 4, just two days before the 29th tranche of electoral bond sales was launched.
These sales ended November 20. The window for the sale of electoral bonds opened ahead of elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Vedanta's founder, Anil Agarwal, who started as a scrap dealer in the early 1970s, now runs a metals-to-mining conglomerate with a market cap of Rs 96,554 crore.
Its shares closed at Rs 259 on Friday at the BSE. It has proposed splitting its business into five units — aluminium, oil & gas, base metals, steel and ferrous
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