 "'Very, very comfortable': Anil Agrawal on Vedanta being over-leveraged")
Anil Agrawal, Chairman of Vedanta Group, said on Tuesday, April 25, that Vedanta Resources Limited (VRL) stands strong and stable and can comfortably take care of its future debt obligations, The Economic Times (ET) has reported. He added that there should be no doubt about the company's ability to meet its obligations, and the talks about the group being over-leveraged hold little value.
The 69-year-old billionaire told ET, "We are very, very comfortable." Reiterating the company's solid financials, Agrawal said that Vedanta had not defaulted even once in the last 25 years. Elaborating on the debt repayment plans, he said that VRL would repay its obligations through a combination of dividend and royalties.
In a recent development, Vedanta repaid a debt of $1 billion. Vedanta Resources announced that its gross debt stood at $6.8 billion.
Vedanta Group has several subsidiaries, including Hindustan Zinc, Cairn India, Sesa Goa and Electrosteel Steels etc.
Vedanta is primarily engaged in the mining and metals business. It has key stakes in sectors such as aluminium, oil and gas, steel, copper, and zinc, among others.
Anil Agrawal said that the company will generate a total of $9 billion in profits with a total revenue of around $30 billion in the financial year 2023-24. Notably, Vedanta remains one of the high dividend-paying companies. In its latest dividend payouts announced on March 28, Vedanta announced Rs 20.50 per equity share. This was the fifth dividend announcement by the group in a single financial year, FY23.
Industry experts highlighted this aspect of the company and said that successive payouts lead to erosion in the company's cash reserves. This could have negative implications for the company's upcoming capital expenditure plans. It may also harm its creditworthiness, the ET report said.
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