Vedanta Ltd. plans to invest $8 billion to expand production capacities over the next three years as part of its strategy to improve revenue and profitability, according to its Group Chairman Anil Agarwal.
“We are looking to make about $8 billion investment which includes 500,000 barrels of oil and to increase aluminium production by 1 million tonnes and zinc capacity by 800,000 tonne,” said Agarwal in an interaction with BloombergQuint. “It should be comfortable to manage the expansion as our income is expected to be around $25 billion over this investment period.”
The mining magnate also plans to expand the capacity of the newly-acquired Electrosteel to 2.5 million tonnes at a cost of $300 million. India’s steel demand is around 300 million tonnes and currently, it’s producing only 70 million tonnes, he said.
Commenting on the Tuticorin copper smelting plant case, Agarwal said that around 200 industries like fertilisers, sulphuric acid manufacturers were suffering because Sterlite was their sole supplier of copper.
Opposition to the plant was stemmed from vested interests and the matter should be sorted by the Supreme Court as soon as possible as it has taken a beating on the dependent employees and foreign exchange due to import surge.Anil Agarwal, Chairman and Founder, Vedanta Resources PLC