Sharp discounts in Vedanta 's April futures price to spot price suggest the possibility of a huge special dividend. Usually , the futures of the next expiry trade at a premium to the spot price, but on Friday, the intraday difference between the April futures price and spot price increased to Rs 7, with futures trading at close to 3% discount. With no major recourse to income, the holding company depends on dividend income from Vedanta to meet its obligations.The holding company has nearly `37,000 crore of debt, with annual interest expense of about Rs 2,700 crore. Vedanta, with 65% stake in HZL, received Rs 7,920 crore as dividend after adjusting for dividend distribution tax. To avoid this tax leakage, Vedanta will have to declare the special dividend before March 31.The dividend per share received by Vedanta from Hindustan Zinc works out to about Rs 28.

Source: Economic Times March 27, 2017 06:45 UTC