Following the short-seller’s report, Vedanta issued a statement to the stock exchanges, alleging that the report was published without any attempt to contact the company and with the sole objective of creating false propaganda.
Vedanta clarification: Full text
The Viceroy research group report on Vedanta – Limited Resources, published on 09 July 2025, is a malicious combination of selective misinformation and baseless allegations to discredit the Group. It has been issued without making any attempt to contact us with the sole objective creating false propaganda. It only contains compilation of various information – which is already in the public domain, but the authors have tried to sensationalise the context to profiteer from market reaction.
The timing of the report is suspect and could be to undermine the forthcoming corporate initiatives. Our stakeholders are discerning enough to understand such tactics. In fact, to avoid any responsibility – authors of the report have added various disclaimers that the report has been prepared for educational purposes only and expresses their opinions and are not statements of fact (page 7). We remain focused on the business and growth, and request everyone to avoid speculation and unsubstantiated allegations.
Viceroy Research has launched a scathing attack on mining magnate Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group, triggering a sharp sell-off in the company’s shares. On Wednesday, Vedanta Ltd plunged 8% to hit an intraday low of Rs 420.65 on the NSE, while group entity Hindustan Zinc dropped up to 5% to Rs 415.30. The rout followed Viceroy’s explosive 87-page report, which accused Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL), Vedanta Ltd’s parent, of being a “parasite” running a “Ponzi scheme” that has pushed the group to “the brink of insolvency.”
The report alleged that the group structure is “financially unsustainable, operationally compromised, and poses a severe, under-appreciated risk to creditors,” adding that Viceroy is short on VRL’s debt stack. Viceroy’s core thesis is stark: VRL, the debt-laden parent with no significant operations, survives solely by draining cash from its “dying host,” Vedanta Ltd (VEDL). “VRL is a ‘parasite’ holding company with no significant operations of its own, propped up entirely by cash extracted from its dying ‘host’: VEDL,” the report said. “This looting erodes the fundamental value of VEDL, which constitutes the primary collateral for VRL’s own creditors.”
The short-seller likened the setup to a Ponzi scheme, where “VEDL stakeholders, including VRL’s creditors, are the ‘suckers’.”
According to Viceroy, VRL compels VEDL to issue “disproportionately large dividends” funded not by genuine free cash flows but by fresh borrowings, aggressive working capital tactics, and depletion of cash reserves. This, it said, creates a “terminal feedback loop” that undermines VEDL’s capital structure.
“To service its own debt burden, VRL is systematically draining VEDL, forcing the operating company to take on ever-increasing leverage and erode its financial strength,” the report alleged.
