Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta Group
The much-awaited demerger of the Vedanta Group has been completed, with four businesses –oil and gas, power, aluminium, and iron and steel—now listed separately on stock exchanges. Chairman Anil Agarwal says each of the five listed companies can grow into a $100 billion business. In an interview with businessline he downplays missing out on Jaiprakash Associates, saying in business, you win some and lose some. Excerpt:
What are your growth plans for the newly listed companies?
Vedanta Resources was initially listed in London. The company name was changed to Vedanta before listing in India. All our businesses -- oil and gas, copper, zinc and aluminium -- were under one company. So it was like a big banyan tree. Now, all the companies have grown well and ready to create substantial shareholder value. The five companies have beautiful business, but not easy to operate. We always look for businesses which are import substitute. We enjoy establishing ourselves in difficult business because only then we can be import substitute. Following the same principal we created business in aluminium, zinc, oil and gas, power, including nuclear power. We are the only producer of nickel in India. There is huge requirement for nickel. We are growing that company. We have other critical metals, including Magnesium which is in short supply. Each of the listed five companies can become a $100 billion separately because there is a huge demand and supply gap.
