- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INSTITUTIONAL investors of Vedanta, which is owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal, have voted against the adoption of annual financial accounts and rejected the appointment of three of the four independent directors, including that of Upendra Kumar Sinha, former chairman of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), which the company proposed, the Hindu Business Line reported.
The company has proposed to appoint four independent directors and they included, besides Sinha, Padmini Somani, Akhilesh Joshi and Dindayal Jalan. Apart from Sinha, all other proposals were moved as ordinary resolutions.
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In case of Sinha, 15 per cent of the votes were against his reappointment as an independent director. In case of Jalan, it was 16 per cent while in case of Joshi, it was 14 per cent. Somani’s appointment faced the least resistance with only 0.03 per cent of the voters going against her appointment as an independent director.
According to the report, both proxy advisory firms IiAS and SES had recommended shareholders to vote against the adoption of accounts owing to the auditor qualification on internal financial rules.
The proxy advisory firms, which asked the investors to vote against the appointment of Jalan and Joshi, said both had worked at various Vedanta group companies and affiliates in senior executive positions like the chief financial officer and chief executive officer till 2016.
About their advice against Sinha’s appointment, the firms said he has been on board since March 13, 2018, and the independent directors have not guarded the minority shareholder-rights by maintaining a passive stance and allowing cash flow to the group through the company as well as Hindustan Zinc, the Business Line report added.
“We, therefore, do not support Upendra Kumar Sinha’s reappointment as an Independent Director,” it added.
