Even as the parent firm works around the clock to arrange a $1 billion payment on dollar-denominated debts due in January, the board of India-listed Vedanta Ltd approved a Rs 200-crore gift to political parties.
The board also resolved to reinstate the unutilized maximum of Rs 57 crore set in June 2022 for political party contributions. Emails addressed to Vedanta Ltd for comment went unanswered till this news was published.
The contribution limitations of Rs 200 crore and Rs 57 crore are applicable till March 2025, according to the resolution text. The board has granted permission for "the contribution either directly or through electoral trust and in any form including subscription to electoral bonds" .
According to Vedanta's board resolution, the "chairman and vice chairman are hereby authorized to decide the quantum of political contribution to be paid to individual political parties."
According to the company's website, Anil Agarwal is the non-executive chairman of Vedanta, and his brother Navin Agarwal is the executive vice chairman.
Vedanta passed the resolution on November 4, just two days before the beginning of the 29th tranche of election bond sales. These sales concluded on November 20. Before elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram, a window for the sale of electoral bonds was opened.
Anil Agarwal, the company's founder, began as a scrap dealer in the early 1970s and today heads a metals-to-mining conglomerate with a market capitalization of Rs 96,554 crore. On the BSE, its shares closed at Rs 259 on Friday. It has suggested dividing its operations into five divisions: aluminum, oil and gas, base metals, steel and ferrous, and power generation.
Vedanta has donated 457 crore to political parties over the last five years by subscribing to electoral bonds, with155 crore donated in FY23 alone, as reported by ET on June 21.
The electoral bond concept was introduced in 2018 as an alternative to cash contributions to political parties. It allows for anonymous funding of political parties by individuals or corporations. The only bank permitted to issue and encash electoral bonds through its authorized branches is the government-owned State Bank of India.
Political parties earned Rs 13,791 crore in donations from electoral bonds in 27 phases between 2018 and 2022, according to data supplied by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). Following that, the government started two additional phases.
