Vedanta Q2 Profit Falls 38% on Exceptional Cost; Declares ₹16 Dividend per Share

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd on October 31 reported a 59% year-on-year decline in net profit to ₹1,798 crore for the September quarter, hit by a one-time exceptional cost of ₹2,067 crore.

These costs included a ₹1,407 crore write-off related to its power subsidiary Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), which lost a case against the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) in the Supreme Court. In the decade-old dispute, the court ruled in favour of PSPCL and other private power firms, including Nabha Power Limited (NPL) and TSPL, rejecting their claims for nearly ₹5,000 crore in fiscal incentives under the Mega Power Project scheme.

In another case, TSPL settled its dispute with SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation in September 2025, agreeing to a final payment of $75 million (₹660 crore) after terminating their contract over performance issues. The payment was recorded in the September 2025 quarter, and both parties are now seeking to close the arbitration proceedings.

Excluding these one-time exceptional items, Vedanta’s profit after tax (PAT) rose 13% year-on-year to ₹5,026 crore.

The company’s consolidated revenue grew 6% year-on-year to ₹39,868 crore in Q2 FY26, which Vedanta said was “driven by higher LME prices, premiums, and forex gains, partly offset by lower volumes.”

Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 12% year-on-year to ₹11,612 crore, mainly due to higher premiums and forex gains. Excluding custom smelting at its copper business and one-off gains in Q2, the EBITDA margin rose 69 basis points to 34%.

“We delivered record production of aluminium, alumina, zinc MIC from our international operations, pig iron and power generation. We also made strong progress on new projects, including commissioning 1.3 GW of new power capacities, producing first metal from the new BALCO smelter, first alumina from the 1.5 MTPA Train II at Lanjigarh refinery, and starting the 160 KTPA Roaster at Debari,” said Arun Misra, Executive Director, Vedanta.

He added that Vedanta’s EBITDA grew despite a period of uncertainty and lower prices of key commodities, and guided that the company is well positioned to deliver its best performance in FY26, with full-year EBITDA expected to surpass the historic high of $6 billion achieved in FY22.

Vedanta declared a dividend of ₹16 per share for the quarter. The company’s shares were down 2.46% at ₹494.45 on the BSE as of 3:36 PM.

“We have further improved our leverage. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio stands at 1.37x, improving from 1.49x last year,” said Ajay Goel, CFO, Vedanta.

Vedanta’s net debt stood at ₹62,063 crore, with the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improving to 1.37x from 1.49x in Q2 FY25. Parent company Vedanta Resources Limited (VRL) successfully refinanced $550 million through a bond issue, reducing its interest cost from about 11.6% to 10% and extending average debt maturity to 4.5 years.

The company invested $0.9 billion in H1 FY26, achieving first output from the new BALCO smelter and Lanjigarh Train II, and expanding merchant power capacity by 1.3 GW.