Receipt of formal conditional approval

1 August 2011

 Receipt of formal conditional approval from the Government of India

Vedanta Resources plc ("Vedanta") has now received a formal notification from the Government of India ("GoI") providing conditional approval for the proposed part sale of Cairn Energy plc ("Cairn Energy") shareholding in Cairn India Limited ("Cairn India") to Vedanta. These conditions are:

1. Parent financial and performance guarantee furnished by Cairn Energy plc in pursuance of relevant applicable Article(s) of 7 NELP Production Sharing Contracts ('PSC") and 3 pre-NELP PSCs, shall be substituted by Parent financial and performance guarantee to be furnished by Vedanta, which needs to be acceptable to the Government and should be in a form and substance set out in the PSC.

2. Vedanta to Guarantee that the technical capability of Cairn India is and shall be kept undisturbed and ensure continued production of oil and gas as per approved Field Development Plan (FDP) from time to time. In case Vedanta fails to perform as guaranteed the GoI shall be entitled to stipulate additional conditions, as deemed fit, including change in operatorship of blocks.

3. Vedanta shall also give an undertaking that they shall ensure adherence of the approved field development plans and work programme.

4. Cairn India and its affiliate shall provide the No objection certificate (NOC) obtained from their consortium partner(s) for each of the Block (except Ravva (PKMG-1) and CB-OS/2 blocks) for the proposed transaction under the respective PSCs.

5. Necessary approval from other regulatory bodies such as SEBI, on the proposed transaction to be obtained and submitted by Vedanta.

6. Necessary Security Clearance from Ministry of Home Affairs in favour of the assignee i.e. Vedanta to acquire the shareholding shall be obtained and submitted by the said assignee.

7. In respect to RJ-ON-90/1 block, the parties, Cairn India, Cairn Energy Pty Limited, Cairn Energy Hydrocarbon Limited and any other affiliate company of Cairn India; and Vedanta and any other affiliate of Vedanta; shall agree and give an undertaking that Royalty paid by ONGC is cost recoverable by ONGC as contract costs, as per the provisions of PSC.

8. In respect to RJ-ON-90/1 block, Cairn Energy Pty Limited and Cairn Energy Hydrocarbon Limited shall withdraw the arbitration case relating to dispute raised by them on payment of Cess under the PSC.

Vedanta is working with Cairn Energy to satisfy these conditions and complete this transaction.Vedanta notes that Cairn India plans to seek a shareholder approval for the conditions imposed by the GoI.

A further announcement will be made in due course.

For further information, please contact:

About Vedanta Resources plc

Vedanta Resources plc ("Vedanta") is a London listed FTSE 100 diversified metals and mining major. The group produces aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore and commercial energy. Vedanta has operations in India, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Ireland and Australia and a strong organic growth pipeline of projects. With an empowered talent pool of 31,000 employees globally, Vedanta places strong emphasis on partnering with all its stakeholders based on the core values of entrepreneurship, excellence, trust, inclusiveness and growth. For more information, please visit:

www.vedantaresources.com.

Disclaimer

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should" or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.