The Odisha government has issued a demand for Rs 1,255.38 crore from ESL Steel Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, citing a failure to meet minimum production targets at its leased mines within the state, according to the company’s disclosure to the stock exchanges.
In the regulatory filing shared with the stock exchanges on Saturday, Vedanta disclosed that ESL Steel received two demand notices on January 17, 2026, from the office of the Deputy Director of Mines, Koira Circle.
These notices, dated January 16, 2026, focus on the fourth year of operations at the BICO and Feegrade mining leases, where the company allegedly failed to meet its Minimum Production and Dispatch Targets (MDPA Targets).
The total amount demanded by the state authorities across both notices is Rs 12,55,37,61,591. The figure represents the calculated financial penalty for the missing production and dispatch volumes during the specified operational period.
The filing says that “ESL is in the process of evaluating the Demand Notices and related computation and believes that the same are not sustainable on merits. ESL proposes to pursue appropriate legal remedies and seek a stay over the Demand Notices and appropriate reliefs, including quashing of the impugned demands.”
The production and dispatch targets from the two mining leases have been fixed in accordance with an agreement signed with the mining department of the Odisha government. The demand notice has been issued as the company has not allegedly met the requirement under Sub-Rule 1 of Rule 12 (A) of the Minerals (Other than Atomic and Hydrocarbon Energy Minerals) concession Rules, 2016 for the fourth year of operation of the two mining leases (BICO & Feegrade Mine) under the Mine Development & Production Agreement dated November 15, 2021.
The disclosure has been made by the Company to the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in compliance with the provisions of Regulation 30 read with Schedule III of SEBI Listing Regulations.
