Vedanta ordered to pay Cairn UK $9.4 million for delayed dividends

Mining group Vedanta must pay 776 million rupees ($9.4 million) to Cairn UK Holdings for a delay in paying dividends, India's markets watchdog said on Tuesday.

The order on the website of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said 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 laws by withholding dividends that should have been paid to the British company between January 2014 and June 2017.

Vedanta sees no major financial impact on the company due to SEBI's order, the miner said in a statement.

"The company is in process of taking appropriate legal steps in respect of the same," Vedanta added.

The Indian company had said it failed to pay dividends because of asset restrictions related to a demand by India's 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".