(Bloomberg) -- Vedanta Ltd.'s shares plunged the most in 10 months after the conglomerate's cash-rich unit deferred a meeting scheduled to discuss dividend payments.
Hindustan Zinc Ltd., nearly two-third owned by Vedanta, in an exchange filing said it has deferred the meeting scheduled for Tuesday without providing a fresh date or offering reasons. Vedanta didn't immediately respond to a query seeking comment.
Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc are part of billionaire Anil Agarwal's metals, mining and energy empire. The latter is the conglomerate's cash cow and Agarwal's holding companies depend on dividends from the Udaipur-based firm to help repay their debt.
Vedanta's shares fell 9.9% in Mumbai, their biggest drop since October, while Hindustan Zinc slipped 4%.
Television channel CNBC-TV18 also reported that Vedanta has been served with a court notice regarding remediation of contaminated sites within its copper smelter in the southern Indian city of Tuticorin. The company has been given five weeks to respond on the matter, the report said, without saying where it got the information.
The smelter has been closed since 2018 on orders from the state government following the death of more than a dozen people when police opened fire on villagers protesting pollution from the facility.
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