July 24, 2025 – On July 22, 2025, Viceroy sent the attached letter to various Ministers and Members responsible for the Government of India’s investment in Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL). The purpose of the letter was to highlight the looting of a strategic national asset and urge consideration of steps to safeguard the national interest.
Our letter cites prior comments by Dr E. A S. Sarma, the former Secretary to the Government of India, who also wrote on March 6, 2025, to the Union Minister for Mines G Kisha Reddy:
“The company is thus depleting its own internal resources to be able to pay such huge dividends, with the lion’s share of 63.4% going to the majority shareholder, the Vedanta Group, which in turn is struggling to repay its own debt…
…In other words, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Mines are collectively allowing the Vedanta Group to transfer its heavy debt liability indirectly to HZL by forcing HZL to pay unduly large dividends to the Vedanta Group at the cost of weakening its own finances…
…Should not your Ministry take up this matter with the Finance Ministry and put an end to such appropriation of funds drawn out of HZL’s internal resources to fill the coffers of the heavily indebted promoter group, thereby driving HZL itself into debt?”
In the absence of a response, we are publishing our letter to the Government of India about the rampant looting at Hindustan Zinc Limited.