Vedanta Resources, the Anil Agarwal led firm, has repaid $400 million of loans, thereby lowering its gross debt to $6.4 billion.

The company said in a statement that it has paid all its maturing loans and bonds due in May and June 2023. According to the company, this has resulted in its gross debt declining to $6.4 billion. It added that in all, the debt has come down by $3.3 billion since the announcement of its deleveraging ambition in March 2022.

CreditSights, a Fitch Group firm, had recently stated that it saw lower refinancing risk for Vedanta Resources’ (VRL) near-term debt maturities on a new $850 million loan refinancing.

“Looking ahead, while we estimate more funds need to be raised to fully fund VRL’s estimated $2.1 billion of 2023-24 debt refinancing needs ($850 million covered, implying a gap of $1.25 billion), we think VRL still has multiple funding avenues to tap into. These include share pledges and dividend upstreaming,” it had said.

The firm had recently said that it is targeting further debt reduction during 2023-24, and ultimately intends to lower gross debt towards zero.

“This will be aided by our expectations of robust demand, particularly in India, coupled with strong operational performance from our world-class asset base,’’ it had said.

Vedanta’s gross debt was at $6.8 billion at the end of April 2023, $7.8 billion at the end of March 2023, and $9.7 billion at the end of March 2022.

“We remain aware of refinancing risk on VRL’s $4.1 billion debts due in 2023-24, for which VRL will likely have to rely heavily on external fundraising for a $2.1 billion refinancing and an additional $950 million to plug a funding gap. At this point, we would still lean towards VRL being successful at tying up its $2.1 billion of fundraising, given VRL’s track record of going to the brink and succeeding,’’ CreditSights had said.