Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta appoints Ajay Goel’s as chief financial officer

Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta on Tuesday announced Ajay Goel’s appointment as the company’s new chief financial officer (CFO). This is Goel’s second term with Vedanta as the outgoing CFO quit within five months of joining.

Goel’s appointment is effective from 30 October. Vedanta said Goel’s return is part of the company’s structured re-hiring programme called ‘Gharwapsi’, introduced less than two years ago.

Goel’s last stint with Vedanta was as acting chief financial officer from October 2021 to April this year. In the interim, Goel served as the chief financial officer at ed-tech company Byju’s.

Sonal Shrivastava, Vedanta’s outgoing CFO, was appointed with effect from June. Shrivastava, who joined from Holcim, stated personal reasons for her resignation in her letter to Vedanta’s management.

Vedanta has not had a steady leadership for its finance department since 2021. GR Arun Kumar quit Vedanta as chief financial officer in February 2021. In October the same year, Goel was appointed as CFO in an acting capacity.

Shrivastava’s exit and Goel’s return to Vedanta occur at a crucial point, where the company has announced plans to demerge its businesses. Vedanta has started the process to ultimately list its businesses as six different listed entities.

 

More immediate than the demerger, Goel will also have to address concerns on the debt side and proposed asset monetisation. Rating agencies have raised concerns over Vedanta and its promoters’ ability to service debt in a timely manner.

 

Earlier this month, rating agency Crisil placed the long-term bank facilities and debt instruments of Vedanta Limited under ‘Rating Watch with Negative Implications’. The agency said the ratings may also be downgraded if Vedanta is not able to bring down its end-of-financial-year leverage to below 2.7 times through the asset monetisation route, which is to be completed by December this year.