Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal bullish on mining, oil and gas

Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal is not much perturbed about the setbacks he received in his core metal business and instead believes it is mining of minerals and oils that would bring in the riches for the economy, the government as well as businesses.

While the recent clearance by National Green Tribunal to reopen Tuticorin copper plant has been stayed by Madras High Court, forcing Vedanta to now move Supreme Court.

The apex court's earlier move to ban iron ore mining in Goa had hurt the group, which was the largest miner of the ore in that state.

"Tuticorin and Goa contributed not even 3-4% to Vedanta's revenues which contributes almost 1% of the gross domestic product of the country. I am more bothered with the huge imports of minerals that take place in the country. There are strong vested interests and lobbies that want India to continue to import things we have like iron ore, coal, oil," Agarwal said during his visit to the city.

"A major reason why the value of our currency had dropped is that we stepped up our imports of minerals like iron ore. We must understand that it is mining that would bring in the revenues for the government. It is only because of presence in the mineral and oil sectors that our group was able to pay Rs 1.6 lakh crore of taxes to the government," Agarwal reasoned.

Agarwal is now busy expanding the group's operations in India, particularly in oil. His group contributes 27% to the country's oil production now and aims to take it to 50% in the near future.

In August, Vedanta won 41 blocks out of the 55 offered under the first round of open acreage bidding.

"We are now producing 2 lakh barrels, which would go up to 5 lakh barrels in two years' time. And with the new 41 blocks in Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, we would produce another 5 lakh barrels, thus reaching a total 1 million barrels in the next four years at an investment of about $5 billion," Agarwal said.

Vedanta forayed into steel by acquiring Electrosteel Steel's plant through resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. He plans to expand Electrosteel's capacity from 1.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 2.5 mtpa in two years by spending $300 million and setting up another 4.5 mt capacity for $3-4 billion.

"My number one priority is oil and gas followed by aluminium, zinc and silver and steel," he said.