New Delhi, Feb. 8: The government would be in a position to approve Cairn India’s deal with Vedanta only if ONGC’s concerns over royalties were addressed, oil minister Jaipal Reddy said after a meeting with Cairn Energy’s chief executive officer Bill Gammell.

“I told him (Gammell) that the government supports the deal in-principle, but some of the concerns of ONGC needs to be addressed legitimately and substantially before clearing the deal,” Reddy said.

A Cairn release said Gammell had a “positive and constructive” meeting with the minister. The company will continue to work with the government to complete the deal before April 15.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) wants Cairn-Vedanta to address the issue of excess royalty it has to pay on Cairn India’s prolific Rajasthan block to be addressed. The state-run explorer owns a 30 per cent stake in the assets but pays 100 per cent of the royalties on those assets to the state government.

“We cannot be opposed to (Cairn Energy) selling (its) shares (in Cairn India)... ONGC is not prepared to buy (Cairn Energy stake) at the price (Vedanta is paying). Given these conditions, we need to see that concerns of ONGC are substantially and legitimately addressed,” Reddy said.