India’s petroleum ministry has called an emergency meeting for Sunday with executives involved in the proposed sale of a Rajasthan oilfield by Cairn Energy, the UK oil and gas company, as doubts mount over whether the $9.6bn deal will be completed.

New Delhi wants to impose new conditions before allowing Vedanta, the London-listed resources group, to take control of Cairn India, in what would be one of India’s biggest ever corporate deals.