Close to a month after the Cabinet approved Cairn Energy's proposal to sell majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources, the Government formally communicated the decision to the companies on Tuesday.
This was just in time for the Cairn India board, which met in Edinburgh, to consider its quarter numbers and take a call on the conditions laid down by the Government.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had on June 30 approved the proposal with certain riders — the royalty burden for Rajasthan crude oil was to be shared by all stakeholders and Cairn should withdraw all arbitration cases.
Official sources told Business Line that the Petroleum Ministry wanted to be careful about the wording of the decision. After due vetting by the Law Ministry, the formal communication has been sent, sources said. Cairn Board, in its earlier two meetings (held on February 10 and May 25), was unanimous that the company would not share the royalty burden of the Rajasthan oilfields or give up its right to contest the cess claim.