In what is becoming an annual occurrence, Vedanta Resources Plc's annual general meeting day was marked with protests.
As the company hosted its AGM in London, protesters gathered outside the Reserve Bank of India in New Delhi to raise their voice against public sector banks lending to the various subsidiaries of the natural resources major.
Organised by activist group Foil Vedanta, 22 persons gathered for the protest outside the RBI office were detained by the Delhi Police and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station.
Similar protests were held around the world over the weekend, including Udaipur, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Chingola and Lusaka in Zambia, London and Hyderabad.
The protests from activists’ groups come at a time when Vedanta Resources is drawing flak from minority investors of Cairn India and Vedanta Ltd.
Vedanta has been accused of giving a raw deal to the minority investors by offering a 1:1 swap ratio for the proposed merger of Cairn India into Vedanta Ltd.
Cairn India shareholders will also get a redeemable preference share of the merged entity for each share of Cairn India they hold.
If the merger is successful, Vedanta Ltd will have access to Cairn India’s cash reserves of over ₹21,000 crore with which it will be able to manage its debt of ₹77,000 crore.