Vedanta Resources says contributed over Rs 34K cr to Indian exchequer in FY20

Diversified natural resources firm Vedanta Resources has said it contributed $4.66 billion (Rs 34,018 crore) to the public exchequer in India during the 2019-20 fiscal.

Its overall contributions to public exchequers of various countries stood at $4.7 billion (Rs 34,310 crore) during the fiscal year, Vedanta Resources said in its latest report.

"Consistent with our commitment to building on transparency, we present our fifth tax transparency report. During FY2019-20, our contribution to exchequer was $4.7 billion, which accounts for 40 per cent of our consolidated turnover," Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal said.

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Most of this amount goes to the Indian exchequer as majority of the groups business operations are located in India.

The company paid $1,398 million (Rs 10,205 crore) towards royalties to the state governments of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Karnataka based on extraction of bauxite, lead-zinc, iron ore, crude oil and natural gas.

Vedanta has also formed an internal 'Tax Council' which acts as an overarching governing body to the tax function as a whole.

The company has adopted guiding tax principle to maintain high standards of integrity with respect to tax compliance and reporting.

In the last seven years, Vedanta has contributed $46.4 billion (Rs 3,38,720 crore) to the exchequer which constitutes to around 39 per cent of the company’s consolidated turnover.

It is the highest contribution to the exchequer made by any corporate so far in the last seven years under the present government regime.

The company said that Vedanta is the 'only' corporate in the country to come out with such a report that breaks down key components like economic value generated, taxes paid and contribution by each of the businesses, the company said.

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In terms of direct taxes, the company’s contribution to the exchequer is amongst the top companies in the private sector, it said.

"The direct economic value of $12,475 million (Rs 91,067 crore) has been generated during the year," it said.

Vedanta Resources Ltd is a diversified natural resource company engaged in exploring, extracting and processing minerals and oil and gas.

The group engages in the exploration, production and sale of zinc, lead, silver, copper, aluminium, iron ore and oil & gas and has its presence across India, South Africa, Namibia, Ireland, Australia, Liberia and UAE.

The group is also in the business of commercial power generation, steel manufacturing and port operations in India and manufacturing of glass substrate in South Korea and Taiwan.