Vedanta's Anil Agarwal says 'Dharti Maa' is everything for us and its potential...

Though Vedanta is a giant in natural resources, there is a basic tenet that prevails over everything else. For the group’s spiritually inclined founder, Anil Agarwal, the story starts off with something as simple as Mother Earth, which in every way is the base for his business.

In chaste Hindi, he says, “Humare liye Dharti Maa sab kuch hai,” or Mother Earth is everything for us. According to him, the story starts and ends with that. He is wagering a $20 billion capex bet on India.

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In a freewheeling interview with Business Today at his large south Mumbai residence, Agarwal exuded optimism on the potential India held out for each of his businesses.

Today, Vedanta Ltd is a demerged entity with five separate companies – Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Iron & Steel, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power and, of course, Vedanta Ltd. “Each of them can become a $100-billion revenue company,” he says.

“Natural resources are of huge strategic advantage to India. For whatever there is above the ground, there are attractive PLI schemes and India is generally self-sufficient. Now, it is about what lies below the ground, and a lot of that is imported,” is his view.

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His own foray into metals that started in the 1970s has seen many twists and turns. Reflecting on the present, Agarwal says India has everything—gold, diamonds plus a strong historical background.

“I understand this business since it’s the only thing I have done. I started with non-ferrous scrap and then moved to copper smelters, copper rods, before taking over government-owned companies (Balco and Hindustan Zinc).”

No journey is devoid of challenges and Agarwal is fully aware of that. “This will be a difficult journey for India, be it on oil and gas or bauxite or anything else. At the end of it, we are speaking of brick-and-mortar businesses. We lose foreign exchange in natural resources and that must change. We are confident that Vedanta is well-positioned to do all this,” he sums up.