'Boss could barely sleep': Anil Agarwal's aide recounts countdown to Vedanta-Foxconn announcement

It is not only novices like us, but even people who seem to have achieved it all, get the jitters ahead of big events. Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, before the big announcement of setting up a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Gujarat with Foxconn, could barely sleep.

Agarwal’s PR manager Aastha Tyagi took to social media to share the moments leading up to the announcement. In a LinkedIn post, Tyagi sharing an image of Agarwal with Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, said, “Managed to capture this candid shot of my boss, Anil Agarwal sir, with the Union IT Minister, just moments before our announcement going live on semiconductor. Sir told us how he could barely sleep during his flight because he was so nervous and excited for today. Glad to be a part of this moment in history where semiconductors will be soon produced in India - leading to affordable electronics and massive job opportunities,” she said.

Vedanta Group announced on Tuesday that it will set up a semiconductor manufacturing plant and has signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with the Gujarat government to set up a semiconductor fab unit, a display fab unit, and a semiconductor assembling and testing unit in Ahmedabad.

The company plans to invest Rs 1,54,000 crore for the project that are expected to employ around 1 lakh people.

“We are delighted to announce that Gujarat will be the location for our display and semiconductor fab ventures. The state is well known globally for being a manufacturing hub and I hope that India's upcoming, cutting-edge electronics ecosystem will thrive, with every state benefitting to develop their electronic manufacturing hubs. We are privileged to take one step further in supporting Prime Minister Modi's vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in this strategic sector,” said Agarwal.

Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw who was present at the signing of the MoUs said that the project is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of India achieving self-reliance in the field of semiconductor manufacturing. He said that the plant will be instrumental in achieving India’s $1 trillion digital economy goal.

Gujarat CM Bhupendrabhai Patel credited the signing of this MoU to the government’s “policy stability and policy support coupled with good governance and excellent infrastructure facilities” in the state.

Also read: Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group to set up semiconductor manufacturing plant in Gujarat