Sesa Goa defers January salary

Vedanta group firm Sesa Goa has deferred 10-25 per cent of salaries to its senior employees as it grapples with huge erosion in sales and profits on account of ban on mining in Goa and Karnataka, a top company official said on Friday.

From January 1, the payment of 25 per cent of salaries have been deferred for top management, including company’s Managing Director and other Board members, and 10 per cent for manager-level employees.

“We have deferred 10 to 25 per cent of the salaries of company’s executives from January 1 but it is not a cut, only deferment and is applicable for non-unionised and managerial staff. I, myself, have gone for a 25 per cent deferment in salary,” Sesa Goa Managing Director P K Mukherjee said.

The country’s largest private sector iron ore producer is going through possibly the worst period in its history due to mining ban in Goa, where it is based.

The company did not produce or sell iron ore in the last quarter from Goa, where the ban was first imposed by the state government in September and subsequently extended by the Supreme Court in October. The ban was imposed after a report by Justice M B Shah Commission, which pegged a Rs 35,000-crore loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining in the state.

Sesa Goa’s operations in Karnataka are already closed for more than a year due to the apex court-imposed mining ban in the state.