Sebi orders Vedanta to pay Cairn Rs 77.6 crore; bars Navin & Priya Agarwal from market

Sebi on Tuesday ordered mining moghul Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd to pay Rs 77.62 crore to Scottish explorer Cairn for delay in payment of dividends, and also barred the firm's entire board, including his brother Navin and daughter Priya, from accessing the capital market for the same.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in a 76-page order said Vedanta must make the payment within 45 days or face further action.

In a stock exchange filing, Vedanta said it received the order on Tuesday. "The company is in the process of taking appropriate legal steps in respect of the same," it said.

Vedanta had in 2011 bought Cairn Energy PLC's majority stake in its Indian arm, Cairn India Ltd. Cairn continued to hold a minority stake in Cairn India, which was subsequently merged into its parent and Mumbai-listed Vedanta Ltd.

In 2014, the Income Tax department slapped a Rs 10,247 crore taxes demand on the Scottish explorer over a 2006 reorganisation and listing of Cairn India.

The tax department attached Cairn Energy's residual holding while Vedanta stopped paying dividend citing the dispute.

The UK firm approached Sebi over stopping the dividend payment even as it contested the tax demand.

Sebi in its order said Vedanta violated the law by withholding dividends that should have been paid to the UK firm between January 2014 and June 2017.

The tax department's attachment expired in March 2016. Cairn Energy in its 2017 complaint to Sebi said despite reminders and release of the attachment, the dividends were not paid until 2017 and the company was liable to pay interest on delayed dividends.

Vedanta, Sebi said, "shall pay to Cairn UK Holdings Ltd (the parent firm of Cairn Energy) Rs 77,62,55,052 (Rs 77.62 crore) i.E. Simple interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum for delayed payment of dividend, due and payable by (the firm) to CUHL, within 45 days from the date of this order." The regulator barred Navin Agarwal, who was Chairman of Cairn India (now Vedanta Ltd), as well as three other top executives from accessing the securities market for two months. Those barred included Anil Agarwal's close confidant Tarun Jain and the then CEO Thomas Albanese.

They were "prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly, or being associated with the securities market in any manner, whatsoever, for a period of two months, from the date of coming into force of this order," Sebi said.

It also barred six others, most of them were directors of the company board, for one month from accessing the securities market.

This list included Anil Agarwal's daughter Priya, who was a director on the board of Cairn India.

Others barred included K Venkataramanan, Lalita D Gupte, Aman Mehta, Ravi Kant, and Edward T Story "from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly, or being associated with the securities market in any manner, whatsoever, for a period of one month, from the date of coming into force of this order", it added.

The tax department had sold Cairn's residual shares in the Indian unit, withheld tax refunds and confiscated dividends due to it to settle part of the tax demand. This totalled Rs 7,900 crore.

Facing global criticism for levying the tax using a retrospective tax legislation, the government withdrew the tax demand and repaid Rs 7,900 crore to Cairn Energy.