October 15, 2025 – Viceroy have obtained the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas’ objection to Vedanta Limited’s demerger application. The objection, a copy of which will be published alongside this report, cites material misstatements by Vedanta Group, “material breaches” of Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), regulatory violations, and financial engineering to offload liabilities.
The objection also includes the letter explaining the GoI’s unprecedented step to decline to renew VEDL’s lease on the Cambay block.
This is a red alert for bondholders and creditors of VRL. Regardless of whether the NCLT approves the demerger, the underlying regulatory breaches, hidden liabilities and financial risks represent a serious credit risk.
The O&G vertical inherits contested contracts, regulatory breaches and material government claims. The reason the GoI is contesting the demerger today, is because it will not be able to recover its dues tomorrow. The demerger will not reduce group-level risk, it will concentrate and exacerbate it.
For creditors and investors, the key concern is that the Vedanta Group has sold them on a demerger while hiding significant liabilities and losing institutional support. Taken together with VRL’s backtracking on its debt load and repayment status of its Private Credit Facility, it is not unreasonable to state that the Vedanta Group’s financials cannot be relied upon.